PA accused of acting illegally over Wied Għomor villa complex permit

A company refused a permit to transform its Wied Għomor quarry into a residential home for the elderly has cried foul after the Planning Authority granted another developer a permit for the building of a villa complex in the valley. Wied Għomor Quarry Limited, operating the quarry in the vicinity of San Ġwann and Swieqi for the past 70 years, filed the judicial protest after the PA gave the green light to a re-zoning application which would pave the path for the construction of an 11-villa complex just 20 metres away from the site formerly earmarked for the residential home and adjacent public gardens. Read: Developers go to court over Wied Għomor rejection The quarrying company’s application for development had been turned down after 10 years of negotiations and in spite of a recommendation for approval. This “illegal and most strange” decision by the authority acquired a new dimension when last month, on the very eve of a hearing before the PA, the company got to know that a re-zoning application was to be discussed. The company had written to the PA asking for a re-scheduling of the meeting since its lawyer would be unable to attend, but the meeting went ahead nonetheless and...