A permit can only be considered for revocation in the case of an error on the face of the record, fraud or public safety, the planning authority said this afternoon.
It made its statement to rebut a report by the Environment and Planning Commissioner in the Office of the Ombudsman issued yesterday on the investigation into the granting of development permits for a high rise complex at Mistra Village. The report found that Mepa would have been justified had it revoked the permits.
In its statement, Mepa said that none of the elements necessary to merit starting the procedure for the revocation of the permit resulted to the authority in this case.
"Mepa is duty bound to follow in principle the planning rights granted through an outline planning permission.
"The Environment and Planning Commissioner incorrectly arrived at a conclusion that the conditions of the outline permission were somehow cast in stone.
"The outline permission sets out the planning parameters, which are further expounded in the full development application. In this case, there was no marked departure from the principle of development," it said
Mepa said the Ombudsman’s report also fell short of identifying ‘unresolved impacts’.
"Mepa reiterates that the Environment Impact Assessment was a very thorough one."
The law cited by the Commissioner requiring the authority’s meetings to be held in public, and a vote to be held in public, did not apply at the stage where Mepa was considering whether to start the procedure for a revocation of a permission, it said.
It added that reference to this section of the law was incorrect, since it only applies in the case of planning applications and planning control applications.
"There is a different and particular section of the law which regulates the special procedure for the revocation of a permit, which was duly followed.
"In this case, the authority used the identical procedure which has been used in similar cases throughout the years under different Mepa boards. The correctness and legality of this procedure was never questioned, nor challenged," it said.