The Planning Authority (PA) said that it has started the process to “revise policy P35, which is a specific policy introduced in November 2015 through the Development Control Design Policy, Guidance and Standards (DC15).”

The Authority said that “the purpose of this revision is to give a clearer and more consistent understanding of the height and allowable number of levels for all the ranges of street facade, outside villa/bungalow areas.”

In a statement earlier today, Ghawdix accused the Planning Authority of “hiding behind facades,” due to the fact that on the same day it “flaunted a circular meant to design facades for Gozo’s distinctiveness, another circular was issued delineating a process for converting building height limitations – previously specified in terms of the number of floors – into overall heights measured in metres.”

The Planning Authority said that this “revised policy” will “ensure more certainty and eliminate inconsistencies that may arise from different interpretations of this policy.”

It added that “DC15 especially with the introduction of policy P35 heralded a change in development management. The policy stipulated that the control of building heights in urban areas should be based only through the numerical dimension of an overall height, and a facade height, in metres.”

The Authority stated that “this necessitated the introduction of Annex 2, in support of policy P35, to enable the conversion of the building height limitations in number of floors in the approved Local Plans into overall heights in metres.”

The Planning Authority said it is publishing for public consultation the proposed objective that will initiate the process for P35 to be revised.

The proposed objective reads accordingly: “To clarify the provisions of policy P35 of the Development Control Design Policy, Guidance and Standards 2015 in relation to the provisions entitled Interpretation of building height limitations outside villa/bungalow areas and specify the number of allowable levels for all the ranges of facade heights and overall heights in metres.”

The Authority is inviting the public to send in their comments and feedback on the proposed objective through email address: consultation_dc15@pa.org.mt. Submissions must be received by the 11th of March.

Ghawdix, in an example of how this change can affect the skyline of Gozo, highlighted the  apartment block as seen in the above photo. It said that  “in January 2021 the PA approved this apartment block, 3 years later this block stands perched over the Nadur skyline.”

“Even though the Local Plans only allows for 3 floors, the permit for 5 floors was still given, and this to the detriment of the streetscape, Nadur skyline and the 19th-century windmill opposite to the block of flats. This circular will now set this practice in stone, consequently allowing for more cramping of apartments,” stated Ghawdix.

Photo: Ghawdix

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