The PN has said that the Environmental & Resources Authority (ERA) has done what it can to ensure that the site in Comino which has come under the lens of controversy due to the approval for the removal of hundreds of trees to make way for a hotel is “properly rehabilitated” and has the “necessary safeguards.”

The PN noted that the site was granted as a concession for commercial purposes by the British colonial administration and had already been committed for development.

The controversy on the site surrounds the approval of the preliminary environmental programme for the proposed Six Senses Comino development by the ERA.  This will see 678 trees and shrubs cleared from the site, including 54 protected trees. Another 348 trees, all but seven of which are protected, will be transplanted.

The project developers HV Hospitality, a subsidiary of Hili Group, is legally required to plant 10 trees from the same Maltese genetic stock for every tree that is not successfully transplanted and must also plant 540 trees to make up for the 54 protected trees to be removed.

The project itself, which is made up of a 71-room hotel, 16 villas and 44 swimming pools, was approved by the Planning Authority but is currently under appeal after NGOs filed a court case against the decision. The ERA's decision has prompted anger from environmentalists, who had called on the authority to postpone its hearing until the appeal is decided upon. 

In a statement, the PN said that the controversy has given the government a “golden opportunity to show that it genuinely believes in what it preaches, through actions rather than words.”

The PN noted that the controversy has come at a time when public consultation is currently under way on the reform proposed by the Government to the planning appeals system – a reform which holds the main principle that whenever an appeal is filed, the development permit should automatically be suspended until the process is finally determined. 

To date, even when a permit is subject to appeal, works may already have started or may even have been completed, with the result that the appeal becomes meaningless because the works carried out may be irreversible, the PN said.

In the case of Comino, the planning permit issued by the Planning Authority in April 2025 is subject to legal proceedings initiated by environmental NGOs. Legally, this permit is separate and distinct from any authorisation issued by the Environment and Resources Authority, ERA, the party noted.

“While acknowledging that the law as it currently stands cannot prevent works authorised by ERA from proceeding before the appeal is concluded, the PN also recognises that ERA – as explained in its statement – has done what it could to ensure that this part of Comino, which was granted as a concession for commercial purposes by the British colonial administration, is properly rehabilitated and that the necessary safeguards are introduced, including measures to minimise the environmental impact of a permit that has already been issued on an area that is already developed,” the PN said.

“While recalling that Comino is a Nature Reserve and a Natura 2000 site enjoying a high level of protection, the PN calls on ERA to ensure that the obligations imposed on the developer are fully enforced,” it added.

“In light of all this, however, the fundamental fact remains that it is the Planning Authority that has the responsibility to take the final decision on this development application,” the PN continued.

In this case, the PN said that it remains consistent with the position it has always taken: any development permit before the Planning Authority should be automatically suspended whenever an appeal is filed, until a final decision is reached, whether the appeal is before the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) or before the Court of Appeal.

The PN also called for the final legislation, once the public consultation process closes on 18 August, to be broadened in order to avoid loopholes that could allow certain developments to be exempted.

“Among other matters, under the draft currently out for consultation, the new law would not apply to appeals that are already pending when it comes into force. It should also be made clear that no separate authorisation – including separate permits issued by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) – may be used to carry out irreversible works that depend on, facilitate or anticipate a development whose planning permit is suspended or under appeal,” the PN said.

The statement was signed by PN MPs Rebekah Borg and Mark Anthony Sammut who are the party’s Shadow Minister for Planning and Shadow Minister for Energy and the Environment respectively.