Court of Appeal decides in favour of Planning Authority

The Court of Appeals has ruled in favour of the Planning Authority and has annulled four decisions taken by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT), the authority said in a statement.

The Court decided that the Planning Authority had properly followed the legislative procedures in issuing the enforcement notices and with the descheduling of a site. It also ruled that the PA's refusal decision against planning permission was correct.

The four cases concern the enforcement notices issued by the Authority against the sites of the former Mistra Village Holiday Complex in Xemxija and the former Jerma Palace, the deschedule of a site known as Ta' Dmejrek in Siggiewi and the refusal of planning permissions for the development of warehouses on ODZ land in Kirkop.

Earlier this year, the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) struck down a decision by the Planning Authority and upheld a request by the Siggiewi local council against the descheduling of a quarry site known as Ta' Dmejrek.

The Tribunal had also upheld an appeal by the owners of both the Jerma and Mistra sites and annulled the PA's enforcement orders. In 2016, the Planning Authority had issued enforcement notices (ECF392/16 and ECF389/16) on both these large sites which have been left abandoned and in disarray for years resulting in becoming an injury to the amenity. The Authority, through the enforcement notice, had requested the land owners to address the injury to amenity that is resulting from the abandoned state of the structures on site.

Similarly, the Tribunal also reversed a planning decision and granted permission for the development of warehouses on ODZ land. In 2016, the Planning Board had also refused planning permission for the construction of over 30 warehouses in the rural area of Kirkop. 

The PA appealed all cases infront of the Court of Appeal. Following the Court's decision the cases will now re-appear in front of the Tribunal for a final decision.  

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