The withdrawal of a building permit for a house next to the only surviving early Christian catacombs in Gozo has been met with relief but did it really have to come to this? Did Wirt Għawdex have to campaign the way it did to save the Paleochristian hypogea, known as Għar Għerduf in Kerċem?

The Planning Authority is holding an internal inquiry to find out why they missed the catacombs. Like any bureaucracy, it gets lost in the details of designations: is it Class A or Class B? As if that would have changed the presence of the catacombs or the need to protect them.

There was another safety valve that did not work. The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage did not reply when the PA consulted it on the application for a two-storey house. Did it miss it from among the piles of other applications being referred to it? If that were the case, then it raises the next question: what else have they missed?

PA executive chairman Johann Buttigieg pointed fingers at the project architect, saying he would have been aware of the erroneous classification. But were Mr Buttigieg’s own staff, paid from taxpayer money, not aware?

At best, the whole planning application process comes across as patchwork. The PA’s desktop planning failed miserably when the Għar Għerduf application was dealt with like it was a house as any other, only with catacombs in the backyard.

That same day, the PA gave the green light to an eight-storey hotel in Swieqi. Understandably, residents in the area are furious at the decision to redevelop a two-storey house into a 104-bedroom hotel right in their midst.

Surely, there must be technical reasons why the project got approved, including how a new hotel managed to get eight floors when the height limitation is three. Now families who thought they lived in a residential area are seeing Paceville encroaching and overwhelming them.

A third more shocking report concerned the approval of the building of four villas, on ODZ land, at Santu Rokku hamlet, in Kalkara. This was not a case of overlooked designations, because the case officer’s report had recommended their refusal. Funnily, this happened around election time.

Similarly, a fireworks factory extension was approved on the eve of polling day. The day before two town houses in Żebbug’s main square in Gozo were approved for demolition to make way for a hotel and apartments.

The planning watchdog has had a terrible history. It had its successes as it brought transparency and a structured regulation of a much de-structured sector. But it has not met expectations. Repeated reforms have not worked. People feel let down and when situations like that in Swieqi arise, they feel betrayed.

Yes, there are always valid reasons for developments to be approved but the outcome cannot be the spirit of the law that regulates building development. Developers seem to have their way far too often, with the president of the Malta Developers’ Association even saying the industry is now “at full throttle”.

No one appears willing to say stop to that. But when decisions like those at Swieqi and Kalkara are made, around election time, the whole façade of the Planning Authority comes crumbling down.

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