The Sannat local council has requested the Lands Authority to verify whether Gozitan developer Joseph Portelli or his associates own the public passageway they intend to block and to take immediate action if any irregularities are found.
Labour Sannat Mayor Philip Vella told The Shift that his council did not file an official objection with the Planning Authority but expects the government to clarify the situation.
In this latest attempt, Portelli, along with his business partners Mark Agius (Ta’ Dirjanu) and Daniel Refalo, applied to close a public passageway leading to the cliffs.
They want to restrict access to this passageway exclusively to those who have purchased flats in their development, known as ‘Hal-Seguna’ and ‘Highfield’.
This passageway separates a large row of flats from two sizable pools built illegally on land Outside Development Zone (ODZ).
Opponents argue that Portelli and his associates are targeting the passageway to transform it into private property to justify the illegal pools, which were declared irregular by the Court.
The area marked in red is what Potelli turned into flats.
In the application, led by Agius, the developers claim ownership of the public passageway. When asked about this matter, Mayor Vella told The Shift that if the land in question were public, it should not be blocked. But, he said, the council did not know who owned it.
“We have no idea if the passageway is their property as they are claiming,” Mayor Vella told The Shift. “Our position is that if the passageway is public land, it should remain that way.”
He said the council had already contacted Robert Vella, the CEO of the Lands Authority, to look into the question of ownership. “We insist that if this is another case of land grabbing, the Lands Authority must intervene to halt this application, as it is their responsibility to protect public property.”
The Mayor said that if the passageway was determined to be private property, the council would not oppose blocking it.
Several objections have already been filed, and the Planning Authority is awaiting further information before issuing its recommendation on application PC00022/24.
“This can never be approved, as it constitutes a land grab of public land,” one objector remarked.
“The intention is to justify the pools since the pedestrian footpath would no longer separate them. Don’t take us taxpayers for fools,” another added.
The Sannat development is just one of many projects that Joseph Portelli and his associates in Gozo blatantly violate planning regulations.
Last year, Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti revoked parts of the development’s permit, ruling that the trio had illegally built a row of penthouses and two large pools.