La Grotta owner challenges €59,000 fine for sanctioning decades of illegalities

The owner of La Grotta club in Xlendi is contesting a €59,000 financial contribution he was ordered to pay by the Planning Authority in return for the sanctioning of the illegalities related to the club’s development over 40 years.

The venue, perched on the picturesque Lunzjata Valley in Gozo, has operated without proper planning permits as it expanded its footprint for decades.

The fine imposed by the Planning Authority in return for cleaning the slate for owner George Said is known as ‘planning gain’.  It is a financial contribution imposed when an application has an impact on the community or environment.

The planning gain was imposed to replace what would have otherwise been a significantly higher fine. The financial contribution is usually earmarked for public projects.

Said, known as ‘id-Dias’, has filed an appeal against the fee. His lawyer, Robert Musumeci, argued that the Planning Authority failed to justify how it had decided on the €59,000 figure.  Musumeci insisted the Authority had no right to impose it.

While the Planning Authority has yet to respond to the appeal, its decision states that the calculation was based on a rate of €25 per square metre of sanctioned development—the area built illegally.

Decades of illegal development

Said, a well-known businessman in Gozo with a history of planning law violations, first applied to regularise the illegal structures in 2017.

Given the environmental sensitivity of the area and the scale of the irregularities, the application just remained dormant for almost a decade.

That changed in 2024, shortly after Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri was appointed Planning Minister.

Within weeks, the long-inactive application was reopened for public consultation, led by architect William Lewis, the Labour Party’s Organising Secretary.

Initially, both the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) and the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage objected to the sanctioning. Yet they later reversed their stance, ultimately allowing the development to be regularised.

The Planning Authority granted Said a full permit sanctioning all illegal structures in December 2024.

A history of enforcement failures

La Grotta was built in 1986, a year before Labour’s 16-year rule ended.

Much of the venue was developed without permits along a scenic road linking Victoria to Xlendi. Lunzjata Valley, where the club is located, is a designated Natura 2000 site that should be protected by stringent regulations.

Despite receiving four separate enforcement orders between 1994 and 1999, La Grotta continued operating illegally.

Under successive administrations, the Planning Authority never made a move to shut it down.

Said used legal loopholes and court delays to keep the business running while maintaining the illegal structures.

The only intervention by the Planning Authority before 2013 was to prevent further unauthorised development.

Since Labour’s return to power in 2013, Said has enjoyed close ties with the government, serving as a board member of Gozo Channel for several years.

He has also benefited from multiple direct contracts from the Gozo Ministry through his businesses, including Security First Services Ltd.

Said and another controversy

Said is also embroiled in another planning controversy involving a historic Knights-era battery in Qbajjar.

He had leased the site temporarily but left it in disrepair for decades, and it is now at risk of collapse.

Despite losing a court battle over the property, the government has yet to take action to repossess the site and transfer it to heritage NGO Din l-Art Ħelwa as promised.

Said’s case highlights long-standing concerns about the enforcement of planning laws and the political influence surrounding major development projects.