Partit Demokratiku has called for the urgent review of a permit for a boutique hotel at Gozo’s Ċitadella, which the party said had “taken over” part of the heritage site.

The Planning Authority gave permission last November for an 18th-century house in It‐Tokk, the Victoria square, to be converted into a hotel.

The permit included creating new windows and doors in a back wall abutting the newly-restored Ċitadella ditch and leading directly onto the ramparts, which heritage groups condemned as commercial encroachment onto the historic public site.

The back wall collapsed during works in April, leading the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage to order a stop to construction and for the damaging works to be reversed. Works have since resumed.

In a statement on Tuesday, PD called for the permit to be re-evaluated, describing the back wall as public land which had been taken up on “what seems to be a false premise” in the permit, which claimed the land was owned by the investor.

The party asked why the Lands Authority had allowed the public land to be taken up, and why the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage had not intervened during the application process.

While the heritage watchdog had originally recommended refusal due to the major impact on the historic scheduled monument, it later retracted its objections.

“PD calls for accountability for the continuous squandering of public land and resources, and insists that what belongs to the general public, including their taxes, should be spent for the good of the general public – not private investors.”

The call for a revision follows a similar appeal by heritage group Wirt Għawdex last week.

In a letter copied to the PA, the prime minister and Gozo minister, among others, the group said the wall in question was “unequivocally” government land and lamented the lack of action by the authorities.