Updated 4.45pm with Agius statement
Mark Agius, a business partner of developer Joseph Portelli, has filed a fresh application to develop a controversial ruin in Qala.
The application rekindles a 2019 controversy that had eventually forced the developer to renounce an approved permit for the site.
At the time, the Planning Authority had approved a planning application for a roofless hovel in rural Qala along Triq ta' Gafan to be turned into a villa with a swimming pool, despite the site being outside of the development zone.
The decision had sparked immediate and widespread backlash, with the locality's council vowing to appeal.
Portelli later announced that he would be voluntarily renouncing the permit and he blamed the PA and the media for fanning outrage and unfairly singling out the project.
In the new application, PA/06371/24, Agius and architect Alexander Bigeni are applying to rebuild and restore the structure and the surrounding rubble walls, forming a beaten earth path and planting trees.
Initial plans for a swimming pool appear to have been dropped.
The planning application was received by the PA on August 14 and representations close on October 25, with a target date for a first hearing set for January 13, 2025.
According to policies established in 2014, in order to be considered, such applications needed to prove that the area to be developed had once been used as a residence.
To try to satisfy this requisite, the original applicant had provided the PA with the death certificate of an 84-year-old farmer, Grazia Mifsud, who was found dead in the area in 1921.
But Times of Malta revealed that Mifsud actually lived in another house in central Qala according to a document from Qala’s Status Animarum – the parish archives – which records the village’s residents during that period.
Agius: I intend to restore the site as-is
In a statement to Times of Malta issued through a representative, Agius said he had no plans to build up the area.
“We listened to public feedback about this site and decided to scrap our original plans to turn it into a liveable dwelling with a swimming pool. Instead, we have decided to restore the old structure so that it does not continue to deteriorate and lose its historical value," he said.
"Once we have restored it, it will be used as a store room for agricultural purposes. We will not file any further applications or changes of use on this site. What you see is what you get.”