From Mr J. Zammit

Reference is made to the e-mail Hubert Mallia sent to the Pembroke council on Saturday 9 August, which was published the day after in The Malta Independent on Sunday and later in the Times of Malta.

Pembroke local council feels a little bit hurt with this attitude since it seems that Mr Mallia did not have the time and patience to first receive a reply from his council before sending his letter to the press two days after the council received his query.

Anyway, the Pembroke local council was informed about the request for this permit on 9 February. The council raised objections to this application on 16 February, and a copy of the said objection letter was sent to residents in the vicinity.

May I also inform the public that on 7 March, the application was withdrawn by the applicant himself in view of the Mepa DPA report, which included the council objections and its recommendation that this application be refused.

In view of all this, I think that the council was more than aware of this situation and took action immediately, which had a positive result with a refusal from MEPA. May I also inform the public that the council has asked the Ministry of Education to have these rooms rehabilitated and used for educational activities.

Finally, the note that was stuck on the wall was just an application and not the development permit. Every citizen of Malta has a right to apply for any sort of building/development permit with Mepa, but this does not mean that s/he is given a building permit.

Joe Zammit

Mayor

PEMBROKE