Fresh plans have been submitted to the planning authority for the relocation of Munchies restaurant, sited in the middle of one of the last remaining sand dunes at Golden Bay.
New plans were submitted to Mepa for a new site underneath the car park adjacent to the beach. Discussions are ongoing but the original plans submitted have already been revised because the planning authority deemed them unacceptable.
“We started the process for relocation much before October because we have been having really fruitful meetings with Mepa and we’ve been discussing plans, method statements, relocation and redrawing where necessary,” lawyer Franco Vassallo said on behalf of the owner, Ian Micallef.
Mepa is wrong and we do not believe that a government department would lease out and receive rent for an illegal structure
In the plans submitted last month, the restaurant would have overtaken the existing car park but this was rejected by the planning directorate.
“The structures at car park level have been removed, leaving just an entrance point, with lift and stairwell, for improved accessibility to the establishment that will now be underground, beneath the existing car park, as per outline permit,” Mepa said.
The two parties involved are still contesting the legality of the existing structure, which has played a role in denying Malta the coveted Blue Flag status to one of the most beautiful natural bays on the island.
The Blue Flag is an award given for the sustainable management of beaches. Malta has been awarded nine quality flags so far; even ‘semi-artificial’ beaches such as St George’s Bay and the perched beach in Buġibba got the status.
Yet, Golden Bay only got the inferior award of ‘beach of quality’, falling short of the criteria required. As a Natura 2000 site, Golden Bay is supposed to be protected but the restaurant’s presence in the Ramla tal-Mixquqa and its impact on the sand dunes has drawn a great deal of criticism over the years.
Last May, the planning authority issued an enforcement notice over the extension of the restaurant to a structure covering 465 square metres. Mepa is unequivocal in stating the entire structure is considered to be illegal.
Mr Micallef is appealing the enforcement notice.
He says the illegality refers only to an extension he had to build to meet licensing requirements.
“Mepa is wrong and we do not believe that a government department would lease out and receive rent for an illegal structure. We reiterate the bone of contention relates to an extension,” his lawyer said. The owner insists he runs a legal business, pointing out that he has been paying a fee to the government for rent of the site since 1987 and his licence as a catering establishment has been renewed yearly by the Malta Tourism Authority.
In 2002, he filed his first application for permits and it took two years for Mepa to decide. He has periodically submitted new plans.
When speaking to Times of Malta, he had acknowledged that his restaurant was denying the beach its deserved Blue Flag status but also pointed out that, based on the licences he held, he had made a significant investment in the place. Moving without an alternative was not possible. “Mr Micallef would like to thank all the authorities, especially Mepa, for all the guidance and assistance being given to solve the present impasse,” his lawyer said.
Objections to plans for relocation have been filed with the planning authority. One Mosta resident wrote to Mepa saying: “You are advised I shall institute court proceedings to resist any attempt at carrying out any construction works over the land in question.”
Another said: “The proposed restaurant is enormous... I ask the authorities concerned and the government: is this how you are going to treat the people who do as they please and undermine authorities at all cost by [rewarding] them, in this case, by giving him the permission to build a much larger structure on land?”