Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1187474
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 NOVEMBER 2019 NEWS JAMES DEBONO THE Planning Authority is appealing a decision by its ap- peals tribunal to slash a plan- ning gain of €623,325 for a St George's Bay development, to just €116,187 on an appeal by developer Anton Camilleri. The planning gain, which is used to fund environmental projects in the localities im- pacted by the development, was levied on the Villa Rosa development. The decision sent shock- waves among local councils who fear that the precedent created by the Environment and Planning Review Tribu- nal's (EPRT) decision would deprive them of funds. This is because in its deci- sion the EPRT reverted the monetary value of planning gains imposed by the Planning Authority board when ap- proving major projects, back to a rate of €4.66 per square metre which applied to pro- jects approved before August of the year 2017. In his appeal Camilleri ar- gued that the imposition of a higher planning gain as fixed by the PA board, created a sit- uation of "inequity" between projects approved just a few months before his project. In its decision the EPRT con- cluded that the 400% increase in the planning gain consti- tuted a very "radical" change which required a more "in- depth study". The Central Regional Coun- cil, which represents 13 coun- cils in Malta's central region, rebutted that the "inequity" existed when this rate was set at a miserly sum of €4.66, a rate which never changed since 2008 and "therefore does not reflect the increase in today's property value". The planning gain imposed on Camilleri's project was based on a formula multiply- ing each square metre ear- marked for residential and commercial development (24,933sq.m) by €25. The PA board established the formula in August 2017 during the processing of an application for an additional five storeys on the 14 East tower in Gzira. On that occasion board chairman Vince Cassar argued that "to ensure the new rate is applied to all future high-rise developments it should be stipulated as a fixed rate per square metre". A rate of €25 per square metre was proposed and ap- proved. Subsequently the PA's plan- ning directorate started to base its formula for major projects, including low-rise ones, on this formula. The same formula was used to establish the planning gain for other major projects, in- cluding the Farsons project in Mriehel and DB's City Centre project in St George's Bay, the permit for which has since been revoked. Commenting on his Face- book page, Labour MP Robert Abela – whose firm is directly tasked by the PA to handle its legal caseload – declared that while he believed in the need to "be close to business", he had no qualms on presenting the appeal because it is im- portant "to keep a certain dis- tance from the business com- munity when the national and community interest demands it… even in cases where such decisions may hurt." PA to appeal €500,000 'planning gain' discount to St George's Bay developer The planning gain, which is used to fund environmental projects in the localities impacted by the development, was levied on the Villa Rosa development