Residents call for revocation of Seminary expansion permit

The Association of Residents Concerned About Seminary School Expansion (ARCASSE) has called on the appeals board of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) to revoke the Full Development Permit issued to extend the Archbishop's Seminary in Tal-Virtu, Rabat.

The association is claiming that the Development Planning Application (DPA) report related to the project was misleading under the terms of Article 77, sub-article 1 of the Environment and Development Planning Act of 2010. It said the DPA report contained information and declarations that were false, misleading and incorrect and that this had a material bearing on the issuing of the permit.

A detailed explanation of the various statements in the report that the association considers to be false, misleading or incorrect is contained in aletter dated 22 February 2011 (copy attached) that was sent to the MEPA chairman by the association and its legal adviser.

In the letter the association also referred to a ruling by the Office of the Ombudsman on a separate case in November 2010, in which the Ombudsman's Office had concluded that a misleading DPA report was could provide grounds for a permit to be revoked.

The association said it had referred the case of the Seminary extension to the Office of the Ombudsman on 17 January 2011 and was awaiting the Ombudsman's ruling on the subject.

ARCASSE also recalled that MEPA had still not replied to the judicial protest that the associationhad filed against it on 11 January 2011.