The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) has filed an appeal seeking to revoke the controversial extension of a Dwejra restaurant, which it said would threaten the ecology of the sensitive area.
In its appeal, the environment watchdog said the extension’s approval would “result in more light and noise in the area that are detrimental to wildlife” and sent a “worrying” message on environmental protection.
The development, ERA said, would be particularly damaging to seabird populations of Scopoli's Shearwater and Yelkouan Shearwater, which it said were particularly sensitive to light and sound and are known to nest in the area.
A Planning Authority ruling to refuse embellishment works on the restaurant in Dwejra, Gozo, the Azure Window Restaurant, was overturned earlier this month by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal.
The tribunal’s decision is already subject to a separate court appeal filed by 15 NGOs last week after a crowdfunding appeal raised €3,000 for the legal action.
ERA - which announced its intention to fight the decision in court earlier this month - said in a statement on Wednesday that it believed the tribunal had misinterpreted or failed to apply the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED), which protects biodiversity, cultural heritage, geology and geomorphology by safeguarding protected areas.
The authority said the tribunal had also failed to recognise “the problems arising from the intensification and expansion of development at Dwejra”, which is designated as a Special Protection Area (SPA) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and part of the Natura 2000 network.
“ERA believes that the development will lead to the intensification of light pollution, especially at night, in an area that is a designated Dark Sky Heritage Area,” it said.
“Although the tribunal observed that the operation of the restaurant, including the use of artificial lighting, remains under scrutiny by the authorities concerned, ERA believes that it is best to avoid these circumstances in the first place.
“While the regulator for the environment was cautious not to intensify man’s influence on the site in question and to ensure the protection of the UNESCO protected site, Natura 2000 and Dark Sky Heritage Area, the message passed by the tribunal is an opponent one.”
The approved development permit includes a canopy, lighting and signage, effectively allowing the restaurant to become bigger and brighter.
When the proposal was first filed, astronomy experts warned that allowing the restaurant works to go ahead would be "madness", as Dwejra was one of the few areas in the Maltese islands dark enough for stars to be observed.
A study of the area by the University of Malta's Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy had found that the restaurant's artificial lighting was "effectively more than doubling the night-sky brightness" and always switched on.