'Error' in local plan could allow flats in villa zone

Balzan residents are calling on the planning authority to correct an error in the local plan, which, they say, converted an area reserved for villas into one for terraced houses.

Malta Environment and Planning Authority officials misinterpreted the colour schemes in the Temporary Provision Scheme (TPS) charts in the local plan and changed a section in Balzan, the local council said.

Residents, it said, would pay dearly for the mistake, as was pointed out in two separate reports drawn up by the Ombudsman and the Mepa auditor, unless the decision was reversed during a public hearing taking place tomorrow.

A Mepa spokesman said the board would consider all the arguments, both submitted during the processing of a development application and those made on the day by all interested parties.

The council said an application for the construction of 15 apartments was filed for an area in St Francis Street corner with St Gabriel Street, which was originally zoned as a villa area. The proposed five-storey development would dwarf the existing two-storey villas and bungalows on either side, cutting off sunlight without integrating into the area, it added.

The residents have been contesting this development since 2005 when 28 families signed a petition and last year filed a judicial protest asking Mepa to correct the mistake.

The development clashed with the area's character and the board was still in time to correct its mistake because changes to local plans had been possible since August 2008, the council said.