The committee against the proposed Sant Antnin recycling plant yesterday filed a judicial protest against the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) chairman Andrew Calleja. In the protest, filed in the First Hall of the Civil Court, the committee said that even though it had objected to the Mepa application for the proposed recycling plant, the Mepa board appointed the application to be heard today at 10.30am. Furthermore, it said that it only learnt that the hearing had been appointed on Monday, depriving the committee of the right of making its objections to the extensive Development Permission Application Report.

It also added that it was not given enough time to formalise its complaints and was denied access to certain files and only shown the final plans of the development.

This was in breach of the principle of equality of arms and placed the committee at a disadvantage, it said. The committee also objected that the Mepa board, that was to decide on the application in question, was the same one that had decided on the development sites and the outline development of the project.

This meant that the board that was to hear the full development application would be deciding on the same issue a third time and it would be more just if the board members were changed. Dr Owen Bonnici signed the protest.