Will developers have a right to ‘compensation’ if planning rules are changed to put a halt to the country’s uglification? A European Court of Justice case has already dealt with the matter
Two-storey buildings located outside urban conservation areas (many of which were built in the 1970s to 1980s era) may be easily pulled down and replaced by multi-storey apartments following a simple planning application. This is possible because the local plans published in 2006 were specifically designed to promote this state of play.
In that same epoch, another policy was introduced so that where three allowable floors were allowed, a penthouse floor could also be permitted ‘over and above’. In addition to this, the then Lawrence Gonzi -led cabinet had decided to ‘close off’ the development zone boundaries by increasing the developable zone by an area which critics had said to have been equivalent to “the size of Siġġiewi”.
A vote by the Planning Authority approving the demolition of Walmarville, an iconic modernist house in Balzan, was made in an irregular manner and could leave the decision open to appeal, Times of Malta has learnt.
The Planning Commission board, with Anthony Camilleri stepping in as chairman in the absence of its actual chairman, Claude Mallia, and attended by member Stephanie Baldacchino, voted in favour of an application to demolish the house to make way for a maisonette and three apartments, including a pool at penthouse level, with a garage and four car spaces at basement level.
Sometimes referred to as the Diamond House, Walmarville has an iconic pink façade that features signature green, diamond-shaped glass panels incorporated in the galvanised steel gates and railings that face Old Railway Street.
Last August, I wrote refusing Johann Buttigieg’s testimony that equated developers lobbying for their projects with eNGOs acting against inappropriate project proposals.
The revelation that messages allegedly exist between Buttigieg and Yorgen Fenech, which propose joint business projects between them, projects which were still to be approved by the Planning Authority that Buttigieg led, proposes a completely different meaning to the term ‘lobbying’.
These alleged conversations, if they prove to be what they seem to be prima facie, would confirm what
Din l-Art Ħelwa and other eNGOs have been saying for some time, namely that the Planning Authority, its policies and its decision-taking processes are, at best, biased in favour of the developer.
The former chairman of the Planning Commission, Simon Saliba, has cried foul over his removal, claiming that the move was illegal.
In a judicial protest filed on Thursday against Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia and the Planning Authority, Saliba insisted that his removal was illegal because it did not follow a parliamentary resolution as laid down in the law.
Saliba was removed from his position last November, months after several environmental NGOs called for his removal because he was siding with developers during hearings. He served as chair of the commission that decides on applications within development zones. He was replaced by Claude Mallia.