Planning Control Applications are being abusively used in Gozo in an effort to have development allowed Outside Development Zones, environment NGO Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Aħjar has complained.

It said such attempts were being made by the same applicant in Xlendi and Għasri, in areas with a combined area of over 15,000sqm. The applicant wants to turn agricultural fields into apartment blocks - 'a request which under the present restrictions for the area would be out-rightly refused' the NGO said.

A Planning Control application is a mechanism reserved for minor changes to land already within the development zone. The law specifically precludes this mechanism from being used to change the zoning of the area itself, as is being requested in these two cases, the NGO insisted.

"We have unfortunately already witnessed the ruin of large parts of Malta following years of rampant and unregulated development. Now it seems developers are turning their sights to the relatively untouched beauty of Gozo by means of what can be considered nothing more than 'creative' applications, in an attempt to defy existing planning regulations. Their approval would truly spell the end for Gozo and kill any chance for its sustainable development." 

The NGO said it expected the Planning Authority to do its duty and screen and weed out these abominations.  

"If approved, these applications would make a mockery of existing planning restrictions and render the Planning Authority's role obsolete," it warned.

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