Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 December, 2021 at 9:33 am by Andre Camilleri
The Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) has rejected two appeals filed by three local councils, nine organisations and several Pembroke residents against the Planning Board’s decision to give the go-ahead to the db Group’s project on the ex-ITS site, a statement by Moviment Graffitti read.
The tribunal has only ordered minor modifications to the approved permit.
Given the track record of the EPRT, “Moviment Graffitti is disappointed but not surprised at this ruling. In 2019, the EPRT had also confirmed db’s permit, but this was later struck down by court. Bizarrely, today’s EPRT ruling was virtually identical to that in 2019.”
Thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign, the local councils, organisations and residents “can now consider other legal options to continue challenging the obscene Planning Authority’s permit for the db monster.”
The appellants had requested the annulment of the PA decision allowing the db Group to build two 18- and 17-storey towers and a 12-storey hotel, on public land in Pembroke, in a residential area, “with disastrous impacts on important historical sites and areas of great natural sensitivity.”
In their appeal, the local councils, organisations and residents outlined several grounds for the revocation of the permit, “including the project’s non-conformity with many planning policies, the defective and incomplete studies submitted by the developer and a manipulated process leading to an unfair Planning Board meeting and decision.”
Another appeal challenged the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) decision to approve the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the DB project.
In view of the tribunal’s decisions, further legal actions will be announced in the coming weeks, they said. “The fight against greed continues.”
