Moviment Graffitti said that it has sent a letter to the Prime Minister, the Planning Minister and the Planning Authority CEO, demanding that immediate action is taken against Joseph Portelli’s illegal swimming pools in Qala’s ODZ.

The letter is also asking for changes in the laws that allowed these illegal structures to be built before the appeal was decided.

The activist group argued that “the permit for these swimming pools was definitively revoked by the Court of Appeal on the 13th of March this year following an appeal lodged by Moviment Graffitti and the Qala Local Council.

However, Graffitti pointed out that “owing to absurd laws and the very bad decisions taken by the authorities concerned, these swimming pools have now been built.”

Moviment Graffitti recalled how Joseph Portelli “had the gall to publicly claim that there was nothing wrong with the illegal works he carried out in Qala before even submitting a planning application.”

It argued that “when the application (PA/8143/21) was eventually submitted, the PA issued the permit, even though works had been carried out illegally; this was just one application in a project that had been salami-sliced to evade a holistic assessment; and it was in clear breach of planning policies.”

On the same day that the permit for these swimming pools was revoked, the Court also revoked other permits of Joseph Portelli in Sannat – the construction of which, however, had also reached completion, the organisation said.

Moviment Graffitti recalled how on the 1st May 2023, Prime Minister Robert Abela had promised changes to the law so that development permits would not be executable until the appeal is decided.

“But the promised changes have not yet seen the light of day,” stated Graffitti. “The Government has only issued a very worrying public consultation which, under the pretext of introducing these long-overdue measures, was in fact seeking to limit the right to appeal. The organisations had officially presented their feedback to this consultation, and nothing more has been heard since.”

Moviment Graffitti said that in the case of the swimming pools in Qala’s ODZ, “it is clear that the responsibility for this mess must be fully borne by the authorities that issued the permit as well as by Government which has failed to change the laws on the suspension of the execution of permits during appeals.”

Therefore, Moviment Graffitti said it is demanding that:

1. “The authorities concerned publicly announce the actions that will be taken to remove the illegal swimming pools in Qala and set a maximum time frame within which the site is to be restored to its former state, at the expense of the developer.

2. Government immediately reforms the law related to planning appeals in order to protect the rights of appellants and make sure that developments are not built until the appeal is definitively concluded.”

Moviment Graffitti concluded by saying that “in the absence of a satisfactory response by Monday 22 April, Moviment Graffitti, together with communities and organisations across Malta and Gozo, will have no choice but to start carrying out actions to remedy this grave injustice against the environment and the Maltese and Gozitan people.”

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