Ramla Bay development proposal is still alive

The long-drawn controversy of the proposed Ulysses Lodge development is not over after the planning authority appeals board rejected one appeal but will continue to hear another.

The board last Friday rejected an appeal to reactivate the full development permit for the construction of 23 villas overlooking Ramla Bay after the developers failed to pay the administrative fees in full.

During a sitting last February, the developers were given an ultimatum to pay their pending fee by May or lose the appeal. The developers had failed to pay the appeal fee of €186 or five per cent of the planning application fees paid previously, whichever was higher.

However, the developers had also filed another appeal against the rejection of the project’s outline development permit. During Friday’s hearing, the board decided this appeal would continue and postponed the hearing to next month.

In July 2007, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority had granted a permit for the development of Ulysses Lodge, overlooking Ramla l-Ħamra, provoking outrage from environmental groups.

However, four months later, the Mepa board unanimously revoked the full outline and development permits after it found that a tract of land within the proposed site was government property.