The Planning Authority Board, in response to Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar’s statement yesterday on an application to increase the height of apartment blocks in Marsalforn, said that “this coming Thursday it will not be discussing or taking a decision on the building heights or amended plans of planning application PA2610/15, as incorrectly stated by FAA.”

“The Board is being requested to reconsider an existing development planning permission condition which was imposed back in October 2016 when the applicant had requested certain amendments to a development permission which had been issued in 2006 and renewed in January 2013,” said the PA.

The Authority added that, “the condition imposed a Bank Guarantee of €50,000 to ensure that by June 2017, the retaining walls around the site are constructed and any hoarding or obstructions beyond the building alignment, encroaching on the public pavement or road are removed. The condition also requires that the road and pavement surfaces are reinstated to the satisfaction of the local council.”

“The condition was imposed to address the inconvenience that the hoarding and obstructions of this site was creating to residents and traffic in the area.”

The PA said that, “the on-going development at this large site, fronting Triq Il-Qbajjar, Triq ta’ Barda u Triq Il-Forn in Qbajjar in Marsalforn, Gozo was granted a planning permission in August 2006 through the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) policy. In January 2013, the applicant had been granted permission to renew the permit.”

The Planning Authority concluded that the “new FAR policy, approved in May 2014, precludes Gozo as an area where the policy can be applied and used for new proposed development.”

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