Bidnija residents are hoping to reverse a decision granting a permit for a controversial winery in an ODZ area in the tranquil village as they take the matter to court claiming that the development runs counter to existing policies.
The residents have filed an appeal in a bid to reverse the decision by an appeals tribunal which last March overturned a previous Planning Authority board decision against the proposed development.
The appeal, presided over by Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti, is expected to be heard this week.
The man behind the winery application is Stephen Galea, the same person at the centre of the controversy surrounding the withdrawal of an ODZ development permit in Siġġiewi, which had originally been refused by the Mepa board.
The contentious winery is linked to the controversial allocation of €150,000 in EU agricultural funds four days before the 2013 general election, The Sunday Times of Malta revealed last July. The reports by this newspaper had led to him having to return the funds.
The residents took the matter to the First Hall of the Civil Court after a planning authority appeals board last March gave the development its green light.
The board based its decision on the existence of an outline permit for the development. It said that, once the outline permit was valid, the planning authority should not have considered the principle of development again when deciding on the full permit, but simplyconsidered the reserved matters.
Applicant had to have two hectares of vineyard holdings within 500 metres
But the residents’ lawyers, Ian Vella Galea, Michael Scriha, Sharon Mizzi, Katrina Borg Cardona and Carina Testa are arguing that the board was mistaken in its considerations and that the full development application had to be in line with policy documents “applicable at the time of the submission and determination of the application”.
The lawyers also argued that the board itself had declared that the proposed development was not satisfying all the conditions of policies on agricultural development.
Moreover, the proposed winery is some 1,500 metres from the vineyards the applicant had in Bidnija, something else that residents claim goes against an agriculture policy which states that the applicant had to have two hectares of vineyard holdings within 500 metres.
Mr Galea, the winery developer, has been trying to get a permit for his Bidnija winery since 2002, but he has met strong opposition.
The outline development permit for the construction of the winery had originally been refused by the planning authority but a planning appeals board had issued the outline permit in 2006.
He has 41 tumoli of vineyards under cultivation and is proposing to develop farmland into a two-storey winery below street level off Milord Street.
Mr Galea had also been at the centre of controversy regarding a permit for an ODZ development in Siġġiewi for the daughter of Albert (Bertu) Pace, who is a consultant to Agriculture Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes.
The permit was granted on the basis of a letter in his name as representing the Agriculture Department, The Sunday Times of Malta revealed, leading the Planning Authority to start proceedings to revoke the permit. The permit was eventually granted despite the controversy.