The planning authority has turned down an application to sanction illegal work carried out on a site Gudja that was turned into a residential unit despite being earmarked as stables.

The changes were carried out after the owners obtained a Malta Environment and Planning Authority permit to construct stables and a reservoir.

However, the work was not carried out according to the permit so Mepa officers slapped the owner with a stop and enforcement notice.

The basement had been converted from a cesspit into a garage and the location of the block approved for the stables was shifted. Other illegal work included the construction of a stone oven with chimney and an ancillary room, as well as a ramp leading to the basement.

The owners had also created an opening in the land's boundary wall without permission, installed a gate and replaced part of a rubble wall with ġebla tal-franka.

Following the stop and enforcement notices, the owner filed another Mepa application to sanction the changes to the 'stables', in an area known as Il-Bur ta' Ras il-Wied, on the outskirts of Gudja.

During an inspection it was noted that the basement was being used as a garage for vehicles and a store for domestic items while the ground floor was being used for residential purposes, in breach of the active stop and enforcement notices.

Inspectors found a fully equipped kitchen and bathroom, a bedroom and a living area - as well as soffits, flash doors, spotlights and floor tiles.

The Development Control Commission therefore turned down the owner's application to sanction the illegal work and the file has now been passed on to another department for direct action.

The development lies within a Rural Conservation Area, with the surrounding area dominated by agricultural land.