Illegal Manoel Island padel courts set to be sanctioned for just €900

The PA’s case officer has recommended approval for an application filed by Gżira United FC’s president to sanction illegally developed padel courts on Manoel Island, with the case officer proposing a €900 fine to settle the matter.

The application, PA/07995/25, was filed by Sharlon Pace on behalf of Gżira United FC and seeks permission for the “reinstatement” of the Nicholl Ground as a sports facility with demountable glass structures, while also sanctioning works already carried out on site.

The case officer’s report states that a number of padel courts have already been installed and that the 6,700sqm site would accommodate 30 padel courts, 20 of which are set to be sanctioned.

Despite the retrospective nature of the application, the Development Management Directorate concluded that the proposal is acceptable from a planning point of view. It argued that the site would remain open, retain a sporting use, and would not prejudice the implementation of the Manoel Island Development Brief.

The recommendation follows a wave of objections warning that approval would reward illegal development on land the government has promised to turn into a national park.

Representations noted in the case officer’s report argued that the works were carried out without prior permission, bypassing public scrutiny and environmental assessment, and that sanctioning them would cement the widely held perception that developers can ignore the law and seek approval later.

Objectors pointed to the 30,000 signatures backing the parliamentary petition to preserve Manoel Island’s de facto status as a public space, while other representations raised concerns about light pollution, the absence of a proper lighting impact assessment, heritage impacts, traffic and parking pressure, and the transformation of a football ground into a more intensive commercial sports facility.

Those concerns echo warnings already raised publicly by the Manoel Island: Post Għalina campaign, which previously told The Shift it was concerned that the Planning Authority’s enforcement arm had failed to reverse the illegal works and that the application would simply be treated as a sanctioning request.

Their concerns appear to have been largely vindicated by the case officer’s recommendation, which paves the way for the application’s approval.

The courts are being promoted through IK Padel Ltd, a private business in which Pace is involved. The football club’s President previously refused to explain his exact involvement in the company, stating that he did not wish to comment on “personal business matters”.

He also refused to clarify whether he was personally funding the Manoel Island project, saying only that such financial arrangements were standard practice in Maltese football clubs.

Pace had filed the contentious sanctioning application after works were carried out without a permit. The facility was already being marketed as Malta’s largest padel complex, further stoking public anger over the lack of enforcement despite the scale and visibility of the works.