A controversial permit allowing Transport Minister Ian Borg to transform agricultural land in a rural hamlet into a swimming pool and outside dining area near to his home has been put on hold pending an appeal.

The Environment and Planning Review Tribunal, which decides planning application appeals, decided there were enough grounds to suspend the permit granted to the minister, whose portfolio includes planning. The appeal was filed by Noel Ciantar.

In its ruling, the tribunal said it will not be easy to reverse the site to its original state” if the development was allowed to take place prior to a final decision on the appeal. Thus, it ordered that no development should take place pending a final decision, which, by law, must be made within three months.

Neither Dr Borg nor his wife objected.

The minister had applied for the extension on agricultural land on the back of another controversial permit issued in 2014, authorising him to develop his home in an ODZ area in the hamlet of Santa Katerina, in the limits of Rabat.

The 2014 permit to turn a dilapidated rural dwelling into a 400-square-metre matrimonial house was also shrouded in controversy after the Ombudsman had found that the approval of the permit was a grave error” and that it should have never been issued.

Basing its decision on the original permit, the PA accepted Dr Borg’s second application to transform a field he had bought for €11,000 into an extension to his house.

Mr Ciantar argued in his appeal that since the Ombudsman had found that the first permit granted to Dr Borg was ‘abusive’, the PA should not have used it as a pretext to issue the second permit.

On the other hand, Dr Borg and his wife insist that planning policies qualify his dwelling for an extension and the development of a swimming pool.

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