Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1148959
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JULY 2019 ANALYSIS A 31sq.m dilapidated room in Qala was allowed to be transformed into a full- blown 200sq.m villa on the strength of a controversial policy approved in 2014. This decision by the Planning Author- ity has re-awakened the debate on this policy, which paved the way for the con- version of country side ruins into full- blown dwellings. To do so, applicants have to prove the ruins were dwellings at some point in time. A spokesperson for the PA confirmed that a review of this policy was initiated by its executive council in April 2018. More than a year later "the meetings of this committee are still ongoing", the spokesperson said. The committee is made up of repre- sentatives from the Environment and Resources Authority, the Planning Authority, the Malta Developers As- sociation, the Kamra tal-Periti, repre- sentatives of the Opposition and the government, the department of agricul- ture, environment NGOs, the depart- ment of agriculture and other ministries. The Planning Authority was unable to supply MaltaToday with the number of permits issued under the controversial policy because specific statistics are not kept. A probe by MaltaToday of 12 planning permits issued in the past years and two other applications which are awaiting approval, reveals that apart from vague reference to properties in old electoral registers dating to the beginning of the century, applicants have even resorted to affidavits by relatives and priests to prove past residential use. 'Abusive and contorted' In 2018, the Environment and Re- sources Authority had denounced "the contorted practice of using existing ru- ral ruins to obtain a permit to accom- modate an urban type development", adding that this was "tantamount to abuse". ERA was commenting on an applica- tion to construct a 200sq.m villa to- gether with a deck area, a swimming pool and a drive in Sqaq iż-Żebbiegħ in Siġġiewi, instead of the crumbling walls of a past structure. The application was approved in Feb- ruary 2019 because the applicant pro- vided sufficient residential proof in the form of extracts from the 1928 and 1930 electoral registers, linking a registered voter and the property. My uncle lived there - Australian pensioner But some of the approved applications included an even more bizarre proof of residence. A permit issued in 2015 regarding a redevelopment of an old structure in Binġemma Road in Mġarr was issued on the basis of a declaration by a pen- sioner living in Australia who "distantly remembered" his uncle inhabiting the buildings between 1954 and 1960. The permit envisaged a new dwelling with a total footprint of 153sq.m. While in this case the new building will only be slightly greater than the existing one, other permits issued involved a substan- tial extension. How to turn a historical relic into a villa One such case involved the approval in 2015 of a 43sq.m vernacular structure dating back to the times of the Knights of St John, into a 140sq.m dwelling in Triq Ġebel Għawżara in Bidnija. The permit was issued despite the con- trary opinion of the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, the Planning Di- rectorate and the Environment Planning Directorate. The Planning Commission justified the permit on the basis that the minis- cule building was already used as a resi- dence in the past as proven by past elec- toral registers. Another controversial permit was is- sued in an Area of High Landscape Value and Special Conservation Area, in Fawwara, limits of Siġġiewi. The application approved in 2015 reg- ularised an illegal extension, which had already been rejected twice by the Plan- ning Authority. It was subsequently approved on the basis of electoral registers issued be- tween 1939 and 1954. Once upon a time… 21 people lived in five rooms The policy was again invoked in 2015 to issue a permit for the demolition of three roofless structures to be converted into a 165sq.m villa with a swimming pool, outside development zones in Ra- bat's Landrijiet. The proof of residence consisted of the 1970 electoral register, which showed that 30 voters were registered at Wied Busbies, 21 of whom were registered in a building known as 'the farmhouse'. The case officer disputed this evidence, insisting that there was no proof that the farmhouse mentioned in the electoral register was found on the site of the ru- ins. But the permit was still issued. The PA has also permitted the demoli- tion of a number of dilapidated rooms – occupying a footprint of 122sq.m – to make space for a 200sq.m villa in the Tal-Palma area in Mġarr. The proof of past residence consisted of a lease contract signed in 1915, which refers to someone living in "five rooms" in Tal-Palma. In 2018, the PA approved a 189sq.m villa instead of an old 50sq.m room, with a habitable internal area of only 25sq.m, accessible through a country lane linked to Triq il-Lewż in Siggiewi's How planning magic turned MaltaToday probes the permits granted over the past four years allowing ruins to be transformed into villas through policies which the Environment and Resources Authority has described as 'contorted' and 'abusive'. James Debono reports An Australian pensioner recalled his uncle living on this site in Bingemma Invisible rooms in Sqaq iz-Zebbiegh to make way for a villa A villa has been proposed instead of roofless rooms on a site in Tat-Tilleira in Bahrija