The Planning Authority board will not be discussing or taking a decision on building heights or amended plans of apartment blocks at Marsalform as incorrectly stated by Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, it said this morning.

FAA yesterday hit out at a development application that it said would raise the height the blocks to 11-12 floors, saying this would transform the village into a high-rise area.

But the PA said this morning the board was being requested to reconsider an existing development planning permission condition which was imposed back in October when the applicant had requested certain amendments to a development permission which had been issued in 2006 and renewed in January 2013. 

The condition imposed a bank guarantee of €50,000 to ensure that by next June, the retaining walls around the site were constructed and any hoarding or obstructions beyond the building alignment, encroaching on the public pavement or road were removed. 

The condition was imposed to address the inconvenience that the hoarding and obstructions of this site was creating to residents and traffic in the area.

The on-going development at this large site, fronting Triq Il-Qbajjar, Triq ta' Barda u Triq Il-Forn in Qbajjar in Marsalforn, Gozo was granted a planning permission in August 2006 through the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) policy. In January 2013, the applicant had been granted permission to renew the permit.

The new FAR policy, approved in May 2014, precluded Gozo as an area where the policy could be applied and used for new proposed development.