The government could not interfere in the planning authority’s decision to turn down an application by St Augustine College to build a new primary school unless the law allowed it, Environment Minister Mario de Marco said.

For this to happen, the school will have to appeal the planning decision invoking the legal provision that makes government intervention on grounds of national interest possible.

College rector Fr Alan Scerri said that an appeal was only one of the options he was looking into. Fr Scerri said he feared an appeal would take too long and so the college would miss the deadline of what was ultimately a national reform.

“Perhaps there is a way to fast-track the appeal,” he said, adding he was holding meetings to look into other options that he preferred not to speak about at this point.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority last week turned down the application to build the new primary school near the existing secondary school in Pietà.

About 300 parents, teachers and students on Thursday took part in the protest in Valletta to voice their frustration at the decision, which left 150 students, already accepted into the primary school, with an uncertain scholastic future.

The protest march ended with Fr Scerri presenting a petition addressed to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. The petition, signed by 600 parents, teachers and former students, asked the government to help them find a timely solution.

The question is what can the government do without interfering in the planning process and whether the Church was asking for special treatment.

“I did not ask for any special treatment,” Fr Scerri insisted yesterday, as he stressed this was part of a national reform that had to be given precedence.

When contacted Dr de Marco said: “I can understand the rector’s concern and predicament given the nature of the proposed project.

“Education and students are the government’s high priority. One must appreciate, however, that the government cannot and should not interfere in the development application process unless otherwise provided by the law,” he added.

The only exception, he pointed out, was provided in the planning law. It lays down that when an appeal is filed for a decision deemed to be of national importance, the secretary of the appeal’s tribunal must inform the minister. The minister would then instruct the tribunal to decide the appeal or refer the application to Cabinet.

Even in such cases, the appeal’s tribunal would have to hear the appeal and recommend a decision to Cabinet, Dr de Marco said.

“The case in question is a classic example of the difficult task Mepa has when determining a development application,” he explained.

“In this case, it had to balance the interests of the applicant to promote education and the interests of the neighbouring residents who claimed that the proposed four-storey development would overshadow a number of scheduled properties and gardens adjacent to the site and create excessive traffic generation within an urban conservation area ... Any decision taken was bound to be controversial,” he said.