Planning applications that are clearly in violation of regulations should be immediately rejected to ensure that the planning authority’s time and resources are not wasted, according to Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar.

The environmental NGO urged the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to stop processing “abusive applications” that clearly did not deserve to be processed under the planning law.

As an example, FAA pointed out that Mepa had recently refused a permit to build a house at the mouth of the Tal-Marġa valley in Qala. This development would have obstructed the flow of water into the valley, drastically reducing the water available to farmers.

It also drew attention to an application to build a Lidl supermarket in a Xewkija valley.

FAA also questioned why Mepa had approved an industrial chicken broiler unit that was built abusively in the Wardija Natura 2000 site.

Meanwhile, replying to questions sent by The Times, the authority denied claims in other media that it planned to introduce an amendment that would allow people to apply for the sanctioning of illegal structures.

Mepa chief executive Ian Stafrace explained that the sixth schedule of the new Mepa law – that came into force on December 31, 2010 – listed circumstances when applicants should not even bother applying for the sanctioning of illegal developments, such as those built outside development zone.

The schedule, however, says that applications filed before 2011, when the law came into force, and that have not been decided, would still be processed. This did not mean that pre-2011 applicants would have a greater chance of having their illegality sanctioned, he said.

A spokesman for the Tourism Parliamentary Secretariat, under which Mepa falls, said: “There is no intention of lifting the no-sanctioning provision as provided in (the law)... or effecting any amendment thereto.”