Mepa decided on permit review on May 23

Environment Minister George Pullicino said yesterday that Mepa decided on May 23 to review the permit it had issued for development at St Anne Square, Sliema and an announcement about a public meeting was published last Friday.

The minister was replying in Parliament to claims by Opposition leader Alfred Sant on Monday that Mepa had initially failed to act on complaints by neighbours and only decided on a review after he was informed about the case.

Mr Pullicino said in an adjournment speech that Dr Sant had made allegations without checking his facts.

Giving a chronology of the case, he said the development application for the site was approved by Mepa on November 26, 2001. Until then there was no objection to indicate that the project could have a negative impact on the neighbours.

Nothing was heard until the developer commenced the works.

Then last May 12 a number of residents met the secretary of the Mepa board, Francis Tabone and explained their opposition to the project, arguing, primarily, that the project was extending beyond the building limit onto public land.

During that meeting Mepa advised the residents to write to its chairman to point out that the plans submitted by the permit applicant contained mistaken information.

It was not true, Mr Pullicino said, that Mepa's advice to the residents was that their only solution was to take the case to court. The advice was that legal action could be used to stop the works until a decision was taken on whether the permit should be withdrawn.

The residents wrote to the Mepa chairman on May 15 and the letter was received the next day.

On May 22, Mr Pullicino said, he had replied to a parliamentary question in which he said that Mepa was investigating this case.

The leader of the opposition in his usual style on Monday had thrown dirt at everyone without checking the facts.

Interjecting on a point of order, Dr Sant said the minister should substantiate or withdraw his claim.

Mr Pullicino said that on Monday Dr Sant had cast a shadow on this case.

Dr Sant said Mr Pullicino had said he was throwing dirt...

Mr Pullicino said he was being clear that Dr Sant had cast a shadow on this case.

Dr Sant asked if Mr Pullicino was substituting what he said before.

Mr Speaker Anton Tabone said he understood that to be the case.

Continuing, Mr Pullicino said that Dr Sant had claimed that Mepa had not acted on the residents' complaints but, the fact was that the Mepa chairman raised the case before the board at the first available opportunity, on May 23. The board members voted unanimously that there was sufficient evidence to invoke clause 39A of the Development Act under which a permit could be modified or revoked. The board found that information in the development application was false, misleading or incorrect and had a bearing on how the permit was issued.

The Opposition's representative on the board was not present when it held its meeting, Mr Pullicino said.

He said that on the same day of the board's decision, Mepa wrote to the developer to inform him of the decision, giving him two weeks to file his submissions.

On May 31, through an advert in The Times, Mepa announced the holding of a public meeting, due to be held tomorrow, during which the case will be discussed. The residents were informed of this meeting by correspondence on May 30.

Therefore, Mr Pullicino said, it was far from being the case that Mepa had acted only after the residents spoke to Dr Sant, as had been claimed.

Could Mepa be any more transparent than by holding a public meeting?

Indeed, the decisions taken by Mepa had been carried in the press. Hadn't Dr Sant seen them?

Mr Pullicino said he was not defending Mepa, but stating the facts as they had developed. He could not understand why the members of the opposition were interrupting.

Dr Sant was trying to clutch at straws.

Concluding, Mr Pullicino said amid interruptions that he had no doubt that Dr Sant would not apologise for the allegations he had made without prior checking. After all, he had been president of the Labour Party when a Labour government abusively granted permits to friends of the party for the building of the Magic Kiosk and other structures on St Anne Square and there were no protests by Dr Sant at the time, and no apologies since.