The planning ombudsman has ruled that the Planning Authority should revoke a permit for a concrete structure to house an ATM and ticket booth along the St Julian’s promenade because it is over three times the permissible size.

The Commissioner for Environment and Planning within the Office of the Ombudsman recommended that the PA should invoke an article of the Development Planning Act that allows it to revoke a permit granted in error.

Structures such as post boxes, ATMs, vending machines and telephone booths cannot have an area larger than one square metre- Planning ombudsman

He was ruling on a complaint filed by a resident over the erection of a room that stands on the roof of a structure at the Neptune’s Waterpolo and Swimming Club in Ċensu Tabone Street.

The complainant told the ombudsman that the structure was being built through a development notification order (DNO) when it should have gone through the normal permitting process. 

A DNO is a fast-track permit process for small developments.

Matthew Bonello filed the DNO in April proposing the construction of a room for an ATM machine and an adjacent ticket booth, both 2.7 metres high. The PA endorsed the request and a permit was issued.

In its reply to planning ombudsman Alan Saliba, the PA said it had not considered that work would be undertaken below road level, adding that it was the responsibility of the architect submitting the plans to indicate such work.

'PA committed errors'

The ombudsman noted that such a structure is regulated by subsidiary legislation covering DNOs, which states that structures such as post boxes, ATMs, vending machines and telephone booths cannot have an area larger than one square metre. He said the structure approved by the PA was three times the size.

The ombudsman said that the PA had committed errors in its endorsement of the DNO and had “irregularly approved” it.

He recommended that it be revoked and that the PA takes any enforcement action it deems fit.