Locals opposed to a large-scale project at Mistra Bay have successfully filed an appeal against the plans, using money collected during a 10-day crowdfunding drive. 

They used a portion of the €7,350 raised to pay the application fee. The remaining money will be used to pay the fees for a lawyer to argue the case. 

Residents say the Mistra Heights project, which will see hundreds of apartments built in a series of blocks on the site of the Mista Village Holiday Complex, will be “intensive, congestive and intrusive”.

The project, which has been on the cards for more than a decade, appeared on the verge of collapse before developers renewed its planning permit last January.

“There have been no studies about the impact of this project for the last 15 years. It was disastrous then, it is even worse now,” said activist Karen Tanti. “Our environment, road networks and infrastructure cannot take it. We are already flooded with unsustainable planning permits and we cannot understand why the PA acts as a rubber-stamping body allowing developers to build all over us in the most irresponsible and arrogant manner.”

Ms Tanti said that various communities around the island had come together to oppose the plans. 

"This is a grassroots movement which has worked hard to keep partisan politics out of the equation, and will not be bought out or silenced by the powerful construction lobbies,” she said.