Land owners object to Mepa decision over local plans

The co-owners of land at Bahar ic-Caghaq yesterday filed a judicial protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court complaining that their land had not been included in the development zones extension.

The protest was filed against the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment and the Attorney General.

The owners claimed that they had requested that their land be included in the development zones in the course of the consultation process leading to the drawing up of a local plan for the area.

The government declared in Parliament last July that the local plans would eliminate anomalies in respect of land, and that inclusions to the development zones would be carried out on the basis of fairness and equity.

Certain areas of land had been considered for inclusion in the local plans according to criteria drawn up by Mepa and by the Cabinet.

According to the co-owners, their land at Bahar ic-Caghaq satisfied the criteria for inclusion in the development zones but Mepa had failed to include such land in the local plans.

The co-owners added that their land was adjacent to land owned by the Lands Department, which land had been included in the extension to the development zones.

They claimed that Mepa had not acted in a coherent manner when it had included certain parcels of land in the development zones when such land did not satisfy the established criteria.

Mepa had failed to seriously evaluate the co-owners' request for the inclusion of their land and had given rise to new anomalies which the Cabinet's criteria were intended to eliminate.

In conclusion, the co-owners called upon the authorities to include their land in the development zones and warned that in default they would proceed to litigation to obtain the annulment of Mepa's decision.

Lawyer Ian Refalo signed the protest.