Bungalow owners protest against proposed development

Owners of bungalows at Santa Maria Estate, Mellieha, have filed a further judicial protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court against the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

Winston and Karen Azzopardi, Charles and Antonia Dalli, Silvio and Antonia Debono, Yvette Chetcuti and St Catherine's Co. Ltd claimed in their protest that they were strongly objecting to the proposed development in an adjacent area of land known as Tas-Sellum. The owners claimed that Mepa was being requested to approve a purely commercial development on land that was designated as a white area and that in all probability Mepa's directorate was going to approve the application that was directly contrary to the draft local plan for the area.

According to the owners the local plan for the area provided that no development could exceed 40 per cent of the site. In this case the proposed development exceeded this by five per cent. Furthermore, the proposed development was going to overlook the bungalow area, in contravention of the local plan.

The owners also claimed that the local plan provided that the development could not exceed 12 metres from existing site levels.

However, the plans submitted for the area indicated that the development would be of three storeys and a semi-basement calculated from the highest levels.

The owners asked Mepa to observe its own laws, regulations and judgments when considering this application.

Dr Franco Vassallo and Dr Norval Desira signed the protest.