Representation Description :
The Ramblers’ Association of Malta strongly objects to PA 07534/07 for Outline Development Permission on the grounds that:
1. The site lies in an area of land that is safe-guarded under NWLP (Map 27), Outside the Development Zone, which Mepa is in duty bound to preserve and protect according to its statutory mission. The Prime Minister himself has declared that “ODZ is ODZ” and no development that is not of paramount importance on a national level must be allowed therein.
2. According to the NWLP, Section 2, 11/08/06, “Encroachments on to the coast for the private use or further construction for the use of boathouses and/or beachrooms, as defined in this plan, will not be allowed.” In the past the same developer has been allowed to encroach to within a few meters of the shoreline with similar constructions. Consequently the area has been degraded to an extent that regeneration will prove most difficult, if damage to the coast has not been irreversible. Use of the underlying shoreline has been rendered impossible for the general public because of the existing “boat-houses” and the further illegal encroachment by the owners of the “boathouses”
3. MEPA is well aware that the project is a misnomer if not fraudulent because the real intention is not for “boathouses” but for more high-density and unhygenic summer residences, as the existing boathouses have been converted and proven to be. Such scruffy construction is certainly not in line with the “destination of excellence” that the Structure Plan and the present administration have projected for the Maltese Islands.
4. In spite of the fact that Policy 17.1.32 of the NWLP “ensures that no further degradation through inappropriate developments is permitted” the area has its surface already concreted and used as a car/boat-park by the owners of the “boathouses”. Similar to other areas there, this has been done without permission and illegally, to the detriment of general beach users and ramblers. For this reason it should be subjected to an enforcement order and direct action by MEPA, especially in the light of the fact that the area is protected by Policy NWML 11. It is a Level 2 Area of Ecological Importance and falls under Rural Conservation Orders 9 and 10 of the Structure Plan for Malta.
5. For the above and other reasons the application for Outline Development Permission is fundamentally in direct contravention of the general word and spirit of the parameters issued under the Structure Plan and the North West Local Plan, 2006.
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Application details below (from the MEPA website) as of 18th Oct, 2009.
| Current Application Status | |
| Case Status: | This application has been passed to a case officer to assess the development proposal in terms of the Structure Plan and other established policies. |
| Application Details | |
| Case Number: | PA/07534/07 |
| Location of development: | Site at, Ix-Xatt Ta' Santa Marija, Mellieha |
| Description of works: | Construction of boathouses. |
| Applicant: | Mr Albert Mizzi |
| Architect: | Mintoff, Dr. Edwin |
| Reception date: | 11 December 2007 |
| Initial Processing | |
| Validation Date: | 06 March 2008 |
| Target Date: | 17 December 2008 |
| Application Type: | Outline development permission |
| Case Category: | Outside Scheme |
| Date Published in Newspapers: | 10 October 2009 |
| Representation Expiry Date: | 25 October 2009 |
| The period for Representations is 15 days. However the Authority reserves the right to reduce the representation period for special cases | |
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