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MALTATODAY 5 December 2018 Midweek

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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 5 DECEMBER 2018 5 NEWS JAMES DEBONO THE PA's rural policy does not permit the conversion of coun- tryside ruins into guesthouses. So developers have adopted a piecemeal approach; by first applying to construct a dwell- ing with pool on an enlarged footprint and then after the ODZ land is taken up, they ap- ply for a guesthouse. The Environment and Re- sources Authority has taken note of this strategy, describing two previous applications for two ODZ dwellings in Wied Ghomor as "stepping stones" for a new application propos- ing the same site for a hotel. The latest application for hotel development in the val- ley proposes a change in use of two approved dwellings into a guesthouse with 12 bedrooms. The two dwellings on a 210sq.m footprint and two swimming pools and a paved area were originally approved in May 2017 instead of two dilapidated dwellings. The dwellings were assessed according to the Rural Policy which allows the conversion of small countryside rooms into dwellings if the applicant can provide proof that these were previously used for hab- itation purposes. In this case sufficient proof of previous residence was presented through electoral registers dating back to 1981, 1982 and 1985, a contract dat- ed 1974 and a recent promise of sale. But the rural policy does not apply to the conver- sion of these rooms into ho- tels. In fact the PA would not have issued an approval had the applicant immediately submitted plans for a hotel. In January 2018 the Planning Authority approved another application on the same site proposing additional rooms in the basement of the two dwell- ings despite ERA's objections against excavation works in the valley. In May plans were amended again to allow an indoor pool in the basement. The application to transform the two dwellings into a hotel was presented in October. In its objections environ- mental NGO Flimkien Ghall- Ambjent Ahjar has accused the applicant of splitting the application process by initially attaining permission for the farmhouse and now by re- questing a 'change of use' from residential to guesthouse. "The process applied here is an attempt to fragment the planning procedure in order to attain permission for oth- erwise unacceptable develop- ments". The same method has been used in other sites along Wied Ghomor Valley. A 23-room hotel was also approved in March 2018 after the PA had approved a 200sq.m villa with pool in 2015. ODZ dwelling could make way for hotel in Wied Ghomor The Environment and Resources Authority objected to the development, which will include two pools

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