A group of 100 residents have complained to the Ombudsman over a permit to build a bar and restaurant in a residential block in Qawra.

The residents informed Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino that they had appealed to the Environment and Planning Tribunal to overturn the permit granted by a Development Control Commission in 2007.

The complaint has been passed on to the Environment Commissioner.

However, they added, the commission had completely ignored the professional opinions of three case officers who recommended that the proposed development be refused.

The permit is for a change of use to shops and a bar and restaurant at basement level in a block of 15 apartments.

The case officer argued among other things that the proposed development did not have a convenient and safe access for servicing and did not comply with a number of planning policies.

It also did not provide for the extraction of smells and fumes and the basement level had been built without a permit, they further noted.

The residents insisted the permit had been issued “under very dubious circumstances”. The hearings before the appeals tribunal were over in a few minutes and no one, including their legal counsel, had been given the chance to speak, they said.

The tribunal decided to confirm the permit in January, months after the last hearing, the residents noted, adding: “We had important witnesses we wanted the board to hear but this never happened. Is this serious?”

In their complaint, they said that the commission had made serious mistakes when approving the permit. The tribunal was also at fault for not revoking the permit.

They pointed out that none of the residents of the block where the development would be sited had objected because they were all foreign short-term tenants.

The developer was obliged to inform the Malta Tourism Authority of his plans because the area was classified as a tourism area in the local plan and the residents asked the Ombudsman to investigate whether this had in fact been done.

They also called for a full and impartial investigation to determine whether any corrective measures had to be taken.

In 2005, a planning board had refused to grant the permit but the developer filed a request for reconsideration, which included sanctioning the basement.

The residents had objected to the request for reconsideration, saying the stairs leading to the bar and restaurant would cause an inconvenience, especially since it was surrounded by apartment blocks.

They were extremely concerned about the restaurant storing gas cylinders underground and said that there were a number of sanitary concerns, such as ventilation.

A restaurant brought about parking and noise problems, which would have a negative impact on their property, the residents said.