Construction magnate Charles Polidano has steamed ahead with work to redevelop four historic townhouses and their gardens in the heart of Balzan, despite his permit having been revoked.

The project is now at an advanced stage.

Polidano, known as iċ-Ċaqnu, continued to build a large swimming pool and deck in the grounds of the 300-year-old properties and only put an end to the works after being formally notified that the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal had revoked the permit.

Between a tribunal decision to revoke the permit on March 14 and formal notification last Thursday, March 23, work on the pool and its deck had continued at a fast pace.

Photographs seen by Times of Malta show at least five workmen and two concrete mixers on site on Thursday. 

In reply to questions, a spokesperson for the group said that work stopped as soon as it was formally notified of the decision.

The Environment Planning and Review Tribunal withdrew the 2014 permit nearly a fortnight ago after upholding arguments that the illegalities carried out before the planning application was approved should have been addressed before the PA even considered the application.

The PA granted a permit by five votes to four despite the developer facing a €100,000 court fine for irregularities.

The application was to renovate three adjoining houses along Main Street, Balzan, and extend them into their gardens. Parking spaces for four cars in the garden were also proposed, with an entrance through a fourth building.

The site is in the Balzan village core, close to the parish church. One of the properties, a 300-year-old palazzo and its gardens, dates back to the time of the Knights and is said to have been used by Grand Master De Rohan as his country residence.

At least five workmen and two concrete mixers on site on March 23. 

The building next door served as the servants’ quarters and next door to that was a building used as stables. There is also an underground cistern.

In 2011, the PA issued an emergency conservation order with a list of remedial works that needed to be carried out on the buildings, and in 2012 the palazzo was included in the national list of scheduled buildings.

Polidano appealed the court-imposed fine which was handed down in 2013 after he allegedly uprooted trees and destroyed a rubble wall in the gardens behind the properties. The appeals court eventually reduced the fine to €10,000.

The illegalities, covered by two enforcement notices, should have automatically excluded the application from being considered, the tribunal ruled earlier this month.

The first enforcement notice was issued following the demolition of part of the building, part of a wall and structures in the garden, all without a permit.

A Polidano Group spokesperson said yesterday: “The Planning Authority only communicated the tribunal’s decision to our site manager on Thursday and works were immediately stopped once he was notified.

“Any works carried out on site in the coming days will be restricted to the removal of scaffolding, clearing up the site and tilling the land – operations that do not breach the tribunal’s decision.

“For safety reasons, we will also be closing off the passageway we were using through third party property to access the site,” the spokesperson added.

Regarding the tribunal decision itself, she said company lawyers had studied it and “will be taking legal action to remedy the situation”.