The Planning Authority has halted illegal works on agricultural rooms on a parcel of land abutting the Mdina bastions, its spokesperson has confirmed.

Contacted by Times of Malta, the spokesperson said that the owner of the land had been served with a warning notice to stop all works on site with immediate effect.

The warning was issued following an investigation by the Compliance and Enforcement Directorate whose attention was drawn to the illegal works.

The area is both outside the development zone and within an Urban Conservation Area.

The matter was brought to the fore when a story appeared on Newsbook, which reported about the abuse happening just outside the silent city and just beneath the Mdina Cathedral.

According to the story, although a permit was filed for the restoration of small agricultural rooms on site, aerial shots showed that the area around the structure was being levelled and that works covered a considerable area.

According to the Planning Authority’s cultural heritage advisory committee, the structure in question was “quite old” and can be considered to form part of the landscape including the fortifications.

It had said that it found no objection from a cultural heritage point of view to its restoration provided that the existing footprint and height of the building are maintained.

It had also said that the existing weathered stone was to be incorporated into the restored structure.

The permit was refused by the PA but the owner appealed, stating that the request for development was justified in view that the proposed development satisfied all the requisites of the relevant policies.

However, the authority disagreed with these arguments, insisting that the application infringes several policies and provisions of the rural policy and design guidance.

These included a provision which disallowed proposed development that would have an unacceptable adverse environment, landscape, cultural or archaeological impact.

An image of the dismantled room uploaded to the PA system by the applicant.

In 2018, the Planning Appeals and Review Tribunal, chaired by now-PA CEO  Martin Saliba, had reversed the original decision since the proposed development concerned the restoration of an existing legal and legitimate building which existed before 1969 according to aerial photographs.

From the plans and photographs submitted during the process, the tribunal noted that the structures consisted of walls that vary in height and that these walls were partly demolished and without roofs.

The tribunal had sent the application back to the Planning Authority to issue the permit within 30 days with the inclusion of standard conditions including bank guarantees related to the monitoring of the restoration project in line with the restoration method statement.

The project’s architect was Robert Musumeci but after the land changed hands, a new architect was brought in by the new owners in June last year. 

From the documentation presented to the PA, it is not clear whether the permit was actually issued as the case details were not updated with the latest developments. Until 2020, new plans and photographic surveys were uploaded as supporting documentation. 

The PA’s spokesperson told Times of Malta when contacted that the works do not relate to PA/02436/15 and are not covered by a valid planning permission.

“This case was already under investigation by the compliance and enforcement directorate, and a warning notice has been served to the owner to stop all works on site with immediate effect.

"Further action will follow should the contravenor ignore PA instructions and not address the situation,” the spokesman said.