The Mepa board this morning postponed by two weeks a decision on an application for terraced houses in the middle of a villa area in Balzan. The proposed five-storey development is in St Francis Street, corner with St Gabriel Street.

The delay is aimed at giving the planning directorate time to see if a three-metre buffer zone was needed between the villas and the proposed development of 15 apartments.

The area was rezoned when the Local Plan was drawn up in August 2006 and the development has been pending since 2004.

Balzan residents, led by their council, this week called on Mepa to correct an error in the local plan, which, they said, converted an area reserved for villas into one for terraced houses. They argued that the proposed development would dwarf the existing two-storey villas and bungalows on either side, cutting off sunlight without integrating into the area.

The residents have been contesting this development since 2005 when 28 families signed a petition and last year filed a judicial protest asking Mepa to correct the mistake.