The Lands Authority has filed a late objection to plans for a controversial beach concession at Għadira Bay after learning about it from a Times of Malta report last month.
The Malta Tourism Authority which had initially signalled 'no objection' has also changed its position and is now against.
The permit application was submitted by the Mellieħa Holiday Complex, or the Danish Village as it is popularly known.
The Planning Authority is due to take a decision on the application on Friday.
It is being recommended for approval, but even if it gets the go-ahead, it would not necessarily mean that the project would materialise immediately.
This is due to the fact that the developer is seeking an outline permit – the term used to determine if the scale and nature of a proposed development is acceptable or not. Consequently, an approval at this stage must be followed by the submission of more detailed plans.
The development would take up an area the size of half a football pitch. Although the land is public, in 1986 it had been leased to the company by the defunct Government Property Division, now the Lands Authority.
Although a tunnel links the site to the holiday complex, the site was never developed as a private beach, as was originally intended. The local council installed wooden picnic benches instead.
The council is among those objecting to the beach concession, saying it would remove the only barbecue area of the beach.
The Lands Authority in correspondence with the Planning Authority said it was never consulted on this matter and only learnt about it from Times of Malta.
Meanwhile, the Malta Tourism Authority, which last February told the PA about its no objection, recently revised its position saying it was against this proposal “due to overriding circumstances”.
This U-turn was justified on the grounds that this summer, Għadira beach had shrunk considerably due to the inclement winter thus reducing the public open space. The MTA added that the Tourism Ministry had already intervened to discuss a reduction in other beach concessions within the same bay.
However, it pointed out that it could revert to its original position should the beach show signs of recovery and increase in surface area.
The government is in the process of extending the beach to cater for the ever-increasing influx of tourists while reversing the erosion of sand. An application for a sand nourishment project was submitted last year.