Land on which a hotel has been built as part of a mixed-use project in Mellieha – the permit for which was revoked by a judge a few days ago – was originally used for the service of the locality’s community, Nationalist Party whip Robert Cutajar said.

Cutajar, who has been at the forefront of the fight against this development, told The Malta Independent on Sunday details on how the land was previously used by the local council but later developed into a multi-storey complex by private interests.

On 10 May, the Court of Appeal upheld the application filed by the Mellieha Local Council and revoked part of the planning permit for the development of an eight-storey hotel, which is linked to Gozitan construction magnate Joseph Portelli. The hotel, in the meantime, has been built.

In the court’s judgment, it said that it was “a fact” that the local plan did not include the possibility of a hotel being built in that area unless there were “overriding reasons” for the permit to be granted and as long as there was no “cumulative adverse impact on the locality”.

The project is being led by Portelli’s business partner Mark Agius on behalf of Shopwise Developments M Limited.

The site is at Triq Halq ic-Cawl c/w Triq L-Izbark tal-Francizi c/w Triq in-Nases c/w Triq Il-Fortizza, Mellieha. The total site area is 3,680 square metres. The application reads: “Proposed construction of mixed-use complex, comprising a hotel including amenities, retail shops, 120 residential units with underlying basements for vehicle garaging.”

“The court decision is not supposed to affect those individuals who have already bought apartments, as the court’s decision is against the development of the hotel,” Cutajar told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

Cutajar said that prior to the 2013 general election, at a time when he was the mayor of Mellieha, the council had an encroachment agreement with the Lands Authority for the land of the development in question. At the time, the council used the area for a park-and-ride service.

Cutajar added that leading up to the 2013 election, the council had worked on a plan for this site to be used for the community. The Labour-led council, after the 2013 election, retained the idea of keeping this land for the good of the community, even if the council’s plans were slightly different to those of the previous council.

However, instead of the local council retaining the land and carrying out these plans, the government took over the land from the council and issued a call for tenders.

Cutajar said that he found this quite strange at the time, especially because the council remained silent and allowed this to continue.

In 2019, the Mellieha council had objected to the development, filed an appeal against the permit with the Environmental and Planning Review Tribunal after it had been approved by the PA, and after the EPRT decided against the council’s position, the council filed an appeal in court, which it eventually won, against the PA decision.

Although Cutajar recognised that the council did the right thing by fighting against this development, he still aired his disappointment over the fact that it should have never let the government take the land in the first place.

“I am angry, like the majority of the Mellieha residents, that the local council let the government take the land, without doing anything for the land to be fully or partially developed in the interest of the community and the residents,” Cutajar had told The Malta Independent in 2019.

Cutajar was also present during the PA Board meeting where he actively objected to the development.

At the Board meeting, Cutajar had said: “The proposal will have a visual impact and adversely affect the approach to Mellieha and the natural protected areas. The location of the site on a ridge will exacerbate the visual impact. Any traffic impact studies should consider other emerging extensive development approved in the vicinity of the site.”

Cutajar also agreed with the comments made by architect Carmel Cacopardo who was representing the council: “The Local Plan states that in a residential area hotels are not allowed and thus the Flexibility Policy cannot be adopted, and similarly the additional heights over the hotels cannot be allowed.”

When the tender for the land was issued and the council chose not to object, at the time the deputy mayor of Mellieha was today’s Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo.

Years later in 2017, Bartolo became a member of Parliament as part of the PL government. When the PA Board meeting was being held in 2019, Bartolo was present as a government representative and he voted in favour of the development.

Cutajar said that he had made the same arguments as the chairman of the Board at the time Vince Cassar and the chairman of the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) at the time Victor Axiak, who both voted against granting the permit.

Considering Bartolo voted in favour of the development, Cutajar noted how it was rare that government-appointed officials would vote contrary to what the government voted.