The Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s development control commission boards (DCC) considered an amazing total of 430 cases in the last week of the election of 8 March – nearly three times the number of cases considered over the same period a year before – this newspaper can confirm.
The number of cases considered by the DCC boards shot up from 162 in the first week of March in 2007, to 430 in the week before the election.
It also turns out that in 49 cases, the DCC boards ignored the case officers’ negative recommendations, and issued a permit all the same.
These permits included the sanctioning of illegal stables and illegal penthouses, apartments sited in outside development zones, to a permit for a parkers’ kiosk on the Sliema strand.
Only 15 cases were refused outrightly by the DCC boards in the last week before the election. Another 112 cases which had a negative recommendation by the case officer were deferred to a later date.
One of the applications recommended for refusal by the case officer, but which was accepted by the board, involved the sanctioning of a whole building and to change its use from a garage into a place to manufacture ravioli. The new ravioli factory is located in an urban conservation area in Zebbug, Gozo.
According to the case officer the proposed development was unacceptable in a residential area because of the noise and smells it would create. The case officer also said the development was incompatible with the urban design and environmental characteristics of the Urban Conservation Area.
Another permit issued during election week was that for an ODZ winery in a rural conservation area at il-Hawlija in Rabat (Malta). On this occasion, the case officer report recommended approval on condition that the garigue in the area is protected.
MEPA also approved an outline permit for a doubling in size of the floor area of the Exiles waterpolo club which will include a restaurant on its upper floor. This development was exempted from preparing an EIA.
The DCC board ‘A’ recently came under severe censure by the MEPA auditor Joe Falzon for having ignored case officers’ recommendations to refuse planning applications, and granting permits and even exempting certain planning projects from an environment impact assessment (EIA).
The disclosure of the auditor’s report on the ODZ supermarket in Safi prompted the bloc resignation of the DCC board under protest at the auditor’s censure.
A new board was then appointed by the Prime Minister in the week before the election of 8 March. Lawrence Gonzi also took under his charge the environment portfolio and the reform of the MEPA structures.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt