Qala Council fighting on against speculator’s Hondoq appeal

The Qala Local Council is fighting back against the speculator’s Hondoq appeal, which is being heard on the 1st of February.

The Qala Local Council said that it has filed a reply to an appeal filed by developers about the fate of Hondoq Bay.

“We have been defending Hondoq to keep it safe and free from development for 20 years now – we are not going to stop until our mission is completed,” said Qala Mayor Paul Buttigieg.” This is a fight we have to win…for present and future generations.”

In November last year, ^[1] the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) turned down an appeal by the developer.

The ERPT said in a statement on the decision that in 2016, the PA’s Planning Board unanimously voted against granting an outline development permit to construct a destination port comprising a hotel, a yacht marina, and a tourist village.

The Board cited that although the Gozo and Comino Local Plan promoted the rehabilitation of the damaged landscape resulting from the past quarrying activity in Hondoq ir-Rummien, “the type, scale and density of the proposed project by far exceeds the interventions considered acceptable for the area.”

Minister for Gozo Clint Camilleri, writing on Facebook in November said, “today I am pleased to note the decision of the Planning Tribunal which confirmed that development should not take place in Hondoq.”

“Both when I was Mayor of Qala and later as Minister for Gozo I always stated my opinion against the development in Hondoq ir-Rummien. This was also stated several times by the Labour Party and in the respective election manifestos,” the Minister added.

He went on to say that, “surely a large part of the credit goes to Mayor Paul Buttigieg and the Qala councillors both present and past for their work over the years where they put the interest of the locals first and foremost over everything.”