The Environment Authority has appealed a controversial permit issued by the Planning Authority which would have seen the ruins of a room in the Qala countryside converted into a large villa.

The permit was approved at the end of October amid public outrage and the developer Joseph Portelli subsequently said he would not go ahead with his plans.

However Environment Minister Jose' Herrera said that an appeal still needed to be lodged in order to remove the precedent set when the permit was issued. 

He also insisted that work should continue on a radical reform of the policy governing Outside Development Zones to ensure that in future, applications of this nature were refused immediately.

The PA decision to approve the permit application had led to criticism from NGOs and the Opposition and also caused friction within the  Labour Party, with MEP and former Prime Minister Alfred Sant among the objectors.

Dr Herrera had opposed the application as soon as it was submitted, saying it was 'not on'.

But the PA issued the permit on the basis that the room was already once used as a residence.

After the permit was approved, the prime minister complained that the Planning Authority had failed to follow through on an order to change a 2014 policy that made it easier for rural ruins to be turned into villas.

He said although the decision to grant the permit was technically correct, the rules that allowed it were clearly not. He said the PA had been instructed to change the 2014 policy over a year earlier.