The Planning Authority board today voted not to revoke a permit it had issued for a villa in ODZ, an application which has been the subject of quite a lot of public comment occasioned not just by the facts of the case but also by the fact that the applicant is the son-in-law of former MP Bertu Pace.

The facts of the case are as follows: the application for the demolition of a derelict building in Wied Sant'Andrija in Siggiewi and for its replacement by a single storey building was approved last year.

Then it was discovered that a letter sent by Agriculture Department officer Stephen Galea had been withdrawn by the department and the Directorate decided to ask the board to use Article 77 to withdraw the permit.

The letter by Mr Galea said that the building had been a farm before 2000.

The applicant submitted no less than eight affidavits by people testifying to the same.

Charles Buhagiar, MP, said a disused farm used to exist in the site as from 1978 and a small agricultural store was in place asx from 1985. Then the rather big room was turned over to keeping of sheep. Hence it had all permits in place.

It would seem that somehow (this was not explained clearly to the board) the department had  lost all papers with regards to such buildings and hence relied on affidavits and testimonies.

Dr Edward Gatt, for the applicant, said no false information was given to Mepa but only a letter was withdrawn since it should not have been signed by the person who signed it.

Even the police investigated the matter after the case was reported in the press.

Dr Gatt even produced the daughter of the last person who owned the farm, Carmela Schembri, who died in 2009. This daughter testified she remembers her mother having sheep, hens etc on the farm.

Assistant vet Saliba testified he used to go, together with Stephen Galea, to inspect the farm before 2000 but since then the farm had been closed down.

But board member Ryan Callus MP, had a different take: the Vet Department had not issued a letter in substitution of the one which was withdrawn. This case is setting a precedent: anyone who can bring people to testify that he had a farm with some sheep some years ago (once the department records were lost) can now apply to build a villa in ODZ.

Fellow board member and MP, Joe Sammut, disputed Mr Callus's arguments.

At the end, two board members, including Mr Callus, voted in favour of imposing Article 77 and the others voted against.