A court has revoked a tribunal’s decision to sanction two large pools by mega-developer Joseph Portelli outside Qala's development boundaries.
The pools are next to a controversial four-storey residential complex in the rural Gozitan village that includes 164 apartments and a large garden.
In 2021 the Planning Authority halted excavation works for the pools after NGO Moviment Graffitti photographed excavators carrying out work in an area outside the development zone without a permit.
The project's pools, by Portelli’s Excel Investments Ltd, had been recommended for refusal by the planning case officer assigned to review it, however, in 2022 the Planning Commission voted to approve them after the developer agreed to carry out alterations.
Qala’s local council then filed an appeal with the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal in an attempt to halt development.
But the tribunal confirmed the sanctioning of the pools and surrounding soft landscaping in October of 2023.
Consequently, the Qala local council and Moviment Graffitti appealed the tribunal’s decision with Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti this week upholding their argument that the pools were approved in breach of existing policies.
The Chief Justice observed that while the permit had been granted on the strength of a generic policy regulating swimming pools in ODZ, precedence should be given to a specific policy regulating the enclave in question.
Swimming pools in the enclave were not allowed, as the only possible development was linked to agricultural activity.
This issue was just one of four grounds of appeal, and the court noted that the appellants' request could be upheld on this sole ground of appeal.
“Although there is a lot to be said on the other grounds of appeal, since the development does not even conform to the relevant policy that regulates the specific zone, there is no need for any other detailed observations,” Chetcuti added.
Moviment Graffitti welcomed the court's decision, recalling that Portelli had admitted he carried out illegal excavation work but said he did so because he expected to get a permit to build a swimming pool there in the near future.
The NGO noted that the court had also revoked other parts of a permit for a development in Sannat due to breaches of building height regulations.
"Unfortunately, all these developments have already been built. The Planning tribunal (EPRT) - yet another farcical institution - chose not to stop building progress until the case had been decided on.
"It is necessary that the law regarding appeals and the ways in which the Planning Tribunal functions are changed immediately to ensure that works cannot begin until a definite decision has been made about the appeal," the activists urged.