Mepa lambasts auditor

The planning authority and its audit officer are at loggerheads again over a critical report on a case which the environment agency said should have never been investigated.

The investigation was re-quested by environmental organisations which then published the findings of the auditor Joe Falzon. In his report, Mr Falzon criticised the decision of one of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) boards to allow a restaurant overlooking the picturesque Mġarr harbour to be converted into apartments.

He said the permit to build apartments, a pool and underground parking space instead of a restaurant was the fault of the people who drew up the local plan but also of the Development Control Commission which did not use its professional discretion.

But the planning authority took exception to the report, saying that Mr Falzon should have never investigated or published the report because the case was before the appeals board.

"The Ombudsman had, in the past, already warned the auditor not to investigate planning cases that are sub judice. The authority regrets that the audit officer's actions once again contradict the decision of a higher institution - this time the Ombudsman's office," the authority said.

This is the second time in less than a week that Mr Falzon's actions have been criticised.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said his comments on a court ruling were "shameful", because he had not asked for explanations but just jumped to a conclusion.

The auditor had commented on the controversial Mistra disco development case after a Magistrate cleared two former DCC members of exercising a private interest in their approval of the outline permit for the open-air disco. The Magistrate commented that meetings between planning board members and developers were common practice.

However, Mr Falzon said the meetings were "illegal", even though he acknowledged that the Magistrate was making a statement of fact when she said that the meetings had become the practice.

With yesterday's statement, Mepa has re-opened a rift that had seemingly been healed between the authority and the auditor, after Mr Falzon had had serious disagreements with the previous chairman Andrew Calleja.

In the latest case, the authority even contradicted the auditor's conclusions.

In his report, Mr Falzon said the people who drew up the local plan for the area had shown a lack of sensitivity in zoning the site for such development.

The main environmental concern over the development was its prominent location on a ridge that was visible from a long distance, which had led the planning authority to refuse a request to set up even a satellite dish in 1998, he pointed out.

In July, however, one of the authority's boards approved the multi-storey apartment complex.

"How the DCC could accept a building which was three storeys high over a very sensitive ridge is difficult to explain," Mr Falzon said.

However, Mepa defended the decision in contradiction to this criticism, saying that the board in question had interpreted planning policy correctly and that the proposed three-storey development was in line with the policy.

Mr Falzon could not be contacted last night.