A Planning Commission on Friday approved an application to build a lavish villa with a swimming pool in Wied Għomor, on the strength of a permit issued in 1969.
The permit (PA/02876/23) was approved despite three previous refusals, including by the Court of Appeal.
Its applicant, Neville Agius, intends to turn an abandoned structure off Triq il-Kaffis into a four-bedroom villa with a swimming pool and an underlying basement.
The villa will rise in a large area in the protected Wied Għomor, a valley that runs between Swieqi, San Ġwann and St Julian's, in an area of ecological and scientific importance. The valley was scheduled by the Planning Authority in June 1999.
The commission green-lighted the fresh attempt on Friday after the developer traced the original permit granted by the Planning Board in 1969. That project was, however, never completed and abandoned when the building was in shell form.
The structure in question was meant to be a ‘showhouse’ for 12 similar buildings that were being planned for the surrounding area and to serve as a residence. Only one was built but never finished. The area was within the development zone in the late 1960s.
Proposals to build on the site were previously repeatedly refused because the planning commission dealing with previous applications had expressed doubts on whether the abandoned structure was ever a “legally established residence”, as required by planning policies.
Planning Authority records show that the illegal construction was served with an enforcement notice, which was withdrawn in 2017, following “legal advice and instructions,” the case officer’s report states.
A changed perspective
On Friday the Commission chair noted that, unlike previous applications that the same commission had turned down, this time the commission had a valid planning permit which classified the structure as “legally established”. He also stressed that arguments on the creation of a precedent did not hold water, since there were no other legally established structures in the surrounding areas.
Commission members Frank Caruana Catania and Joel Fenech agreed, stating that once there was a planning permit, the application was valid according to present policies.
MP asks for Ombudsman to probe
Objectors argued that the application was a “non-starter”, with Nationalist MP Albert Buttigieg accusing the case officer of doing all they could to recommend it for approval. He said the 1969 permit was never fully utilised, as the villa was never finished.
“If a new permit is being requested, it should be considered under today's policies and not those of 1969. I appeal to the Environment Ombudsman to investigate this case,” he said.
The mayors of Swieqi, San Ġwann, and St Julians had joined forces with residents and objectors to oppose the proposed construction of the villa, urging the PA to protect Wied Għomor as a crucial green lung, providing tranquillity and ecological diversity rather than approve something that will endanger the rich biodiversity and environmental sustainability that the communities strive to uphold.
But the commission would have none of this, instead proposing amendments to the proposed villa - a shorter carport and the planting of 15 trees to cover the scar.
A previously proposed project on the same site, set on four tumoli of land, had been marketed online by a real estate firm for a handsome €5 million, boasting unobstructed sea and valley views.
There were several attempts to develop this villa in the past, with the first application received in 2008. This was refused in March 2015. An appeal was filed but was later withdrawn by the applicant in 2018. In 2019, a development application was filed, proposing the demolition of the building and reconstruction of a new one on the same footprint, adding a swimming pool and other landscaping works.
The application was refused in 2020, with an appeal confirming the refusal a year later and then confirmed by the Court of Appeal last year.