Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/627675
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 JANUARY 2016 8 News PLANS have been submitted to sanction planning irregularities over an outside development zones' (ODZ) site in Attard, which occupies the space of two football grounds. Owner Anthony Abela applied to regularise illegalities on the huge 12,405 square metre Alpha Gardens wedding venue in At- tard. The planning application pro- poses the regularisation of pave- ments, low-level walls and other structures and a new 50 square metre olive production building. The site presently includes 8,720 square metres of hard surfaced pavements and 5,501 metres of landscaped land. It also includes a water culvert and bridge. The site also includes three reservoirs constructed before 1978. The site has an entrance from Mdina Road, which is closed by a tim- ber gate, and another from Triq Idwart. An enforcement order was is- sued against this development in 2014 following questions sent by MaltaToday. The owners have appealed against this enforce- ment order. The enforcement notice refers to the construction of "various rooms and structures, the paving and formation of passageways, landscaping works, creation of access and installation of gate without permit". John Abela Ltd, the company facing the enforcement pro- ceedings, is the owner of Al- faran trailers. Alfa Gardens is no longer listed as one of the wed- ding venues used by the Cater- max Group. The wedding hall was previously advertised on the company's website as one offering "opulent" open views of picturesque Mdina and its surroundings. Owners seek regularisation of Alpha Gardens Paradise Bay Second proposal JAMES DEBONO AN agritourism project is being proposed over an area previously earmarked for the development of a mushroom farm, in what is designated an area of high land- scape sensitivity in the Gozo and Comino Local Plan. The project, of over 5,810 square metres in size, is being proposed by Jochen, Stephan and Salvu Tabone on agricultural land along Triq is-Sarg and Triq il-Horg in Kercem. An application to develop a mushroom farm on the same site was withdrawn last year, af- ter MEPA's Natural Heritage JAMES DEBONO AN application to regularise vari- ous illegalities in the Paradise Bay lido includes a proposal to paint the complex in more "muted colours" and for a new lounge area on the roof of the existing development. The lido is replete with irregulari- ties, which under the MEPA reform of 2011 could not be regularised because Paradise Bay is a schedule area. But the reversal of this land- mark reform by the current admin- istration makes it possible for owner Charles Micallef to regularise past il- legalities, and a planning application was presented by architect William Lewis in 2015. A project development statement from consultants ADI Associates on behalf of Micallef now proposes ways of improving the environment in the area, which will still retain most of the lido's illegal structures, in a bid to "blend in with the sur- rounding context", such as painting the lido stairway in 'earth colour'. A metal pipe frame and bamboo cover on the roof of lido's building is to be removed so that the area can be converted into a lounge area for evening use, with loungers, low ta- bles, low-level down-lighters, and planters. The owners also want to extend a pontoon for visiting dinghies, for visitors coming on tenders from larger boats moored offshore. The major environmental gain of the project will be the removal of a terrace at the back of the beach and the demolition of an illegal storage room. The owners also claim they will at- tempt to reconstruct the sand dunes in the area, by removing a retaining rubble wall. According to the PDS, old aerial photographs suggest the landward area of the beach could have sustained sand dune forma- tions up to around 60 years ago. "No information exists on when these dunes were lost, but the construc- tion of terraces at the back of the beach, especially those beneath the slopes on the eastern side of the bay, surely did not help."