Development proposal in Spinola

Reference is made to the news article Eight-Storey Block Proposed For Spinola (August 6) whereby developer Joseph Cortis makes a number of inaccurate and blanket statements both about Mepa and his planning application without giving readers a fair understanding of the context of this case.

Mr Cortis' planning application (PA387/01) which has been in Mepa's pending caseload for some eight odd years, is not a normal straightforward application, besides which a number of reasons which kept this application from being decided upon were outside the authority's remit or function.

A case in point is that Mr Cortis fails to mention that considerable delay in his application was the result of lengthy ongoing discussions that were taking place between his company and the Church for the possible integration of this development with St Julians Parish Church. Besides, until recently, the developer was not even quite sure of what exactly he wanted to propose; in fact the Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee (CHAC) some two months ago formally requested the developer to submit a definite and more substantial proposal for their consideration.

It must be noted that this proposal includes among other planning and traffic-related issues the dismantling of Villa Frieres, a Grade 2 scheduled property. For this application to be processed in its current format there is need for the property to be de-scheduled - a lengthy process that requires adequate evidence and legal procedures.

While the authority cannot agree more with Mr Cortis' comment that the villa is in a sad state, Mepa had issued an enforcement notice because the owner went beyond his legal remit of removing dangerous structures.

While Mepa conceded the owner to shore the dangerous parts, however, in the process of shoring works, structural parts of this scheduled property were being demolished without a permit.

Mepa requested the applicant to submit a restoration application which can safeguard the majesty of this villa. This application never got submitted.

The long and overdue duration for a planning application to be decided should become a thing of the past.

The reform document presented by government over the past weeks outlines a number of key operational changes that will improve the efficiency by which a development application is processed and decided upon.