FAA applauds and slams Mepa decisions

An environmental NGO has applauded the planning authority board's decision to revise a potentially damaging project but added that the authority was still prone to repeating past mistakes.

Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar said it was heartened by the Mepa board's request for a revision of plans for a project to construct 164 apartments, 232 garages and 960 square metres of commercial space on the site of the former Seven-Up factory in Ħamrun.

Mepa chairman Austin Walker's comment that the project appeared to constitute overdevelopment in a dense residential area signalled an important shift in the authority's attitude on urban development in the context of Malta's over 76,000 vacant housing units, FAA said.

It was, however, "disappointing" to see that while the Mepa board was refusing permits which violated the Structure Plan or were not in the public interest, the Development Control Commission boards were granting such permits. In March, the DCC A board granted a permit for the 'temporary' garaging of road constructors' heavy vehicles in spite of the Mepa directorate's recommendation to refuse.

Similarly, earlier this month, the DCC C board granted a permit to demolish a house in the Sliema Urban Conservation Area in spite of the fact that demolitions of façades were not allowed in such areas.

In the case of the Mosta football stadium, an application was submitted to cover several unauthorised changes to plans including a nine-course structure when the permit only granted five courses. The permit was approved before the two-week representation period, and without a single public hearing, the NGO said.

"While one would like to have faith in the process of Mepa reform, these three examples show that the spirit of reform is still far from being put into practice."