Ċaqnu stopped from further destroying Balzan townhouses as tribunal overturns PA approval

Construction magnate Charles Polidano, known as Ic-Ċaqnu, has suffered another setback in his attempts to redevelop protected Balzan properties, after a tribunal overturned Planning Authority approval for illegal works and further development.

The Environment and Planning Review Tribunal found that the approved scheme breached limits protecting the historic gardens, with excessive building depth and flawed calculations that excluded extensive underground construction.

The decision, delivered following an appeal by a resident, cancels the approval and permit notification for Balzan Estates Ltd’s application PA 5481/23.

However, the tribunal stopped short of refusing the application outright.

It returned the proposal to the PA for fresh assessment, requiring substantial revisions before another decision.

The ruling marks another chapter in a development saga spanning more than two decades.

Aerial photographs from 1998 show gardens abundant with trees, before successive interventions, mostly illegal, transformed the site. Enforcement notices followed in 2004 and 2012.

Earlier proposals included terraced houses and a larger residential development with underground parking. Two subsequent permits were revoked by the tribunal in March 2023, with those decisions confirmed by the Court of Appeal that July.

Despite that history, the PA board, presided over by government appointee Emmanuel Camilleri, voted nine to one in January to approve the latest sanctioning application.

NGO representative Romano Cassar cast the sole opposing vote, warning that approval perpetuated a “build-now, sanction-later” mentality.

The tribunal, presided by Joe Borg, found that the authority had failed to carry out a sufficiently detailed assessment against the local plan’s safeguards for protected open spaces.

Part of the development extended approximately 30 metres from the street, exceeding the permitted 25 metres. Underground structures around the swimming pool also extended beyond that limit.

The tribunal separately dismantled the PA’s conclusion that the development occupied only the maximum permitted 15% of soil and planted areas.

That calculation excluded 633.3 square metres as previously developed land.

But the tribunal found that development predating the local plan could not simply be treated as lawful without the necessary permits.

The PA joined Caqnu in defending the application as a means of regularising illegalities and rehabilitating deteriorating properties. The tribunal found that the approved scale could not stand, despite heritage safeguards and bank guarantees.

The application must now return to the stage before the case officer’s report, with building depth, soil take-up and planting reconsidered.