The Balzan local plan is to be revised to prevent the construction of apartments in a villa area.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority will be launching a two-week consultation period to revise the plan, which will limit the building height from three floors and semi-basement to two floors without semi-basement in St Francis Street, corner with St Gabriel Street.

The proposed revision was welcomed by the Balzan local council which had objected to an application for 15 apartments set in two blocks in the area. The application was turned down last June.

The council had asked for the re-zoning of the area, saying Mepa officials had misinterpreted the temporary schemes, enabling terraced houses to be built in a villa area.

The council had said the residents would be paying dearly for this mistake since the proposed five-storey development would dwarf the existing two-storey villas and one-storey bungalows on either side, invading privacy and failing to integrate within the quiet area.

Residents have been contesting the development since 2005 and last year 28 families filed a judicial protest requesting Mepa to rectify the mistake.

Last June, the authority turned down the building application because of the major impact it would have had on the area even though the planning directorate recommended the permit for approval.

The consultation period will start tomorrow, after which the planning directorate will evaluate the feedback. A draft policy will then be drawn up and will be discussed again in a final six-week consultation period.