Polidano's Balzan project hits another regulatory wall as tribunal voids PA approval

Construction magnate Charles Polidano has suffered another regulatory setback as the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal overturned Planning Authority approval for his Balzan townhouse project, The Shift News reported.

The tribunal found the approved scheme breached limits protecting historic gardens, with excessive building depth and flawed calculations that excluded extensive underground construction. The decision cancels the permit for Balzan Estates Ltd’s application PA 5481/23.

This is the latest 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. Two earlier 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 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 PA 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 also 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 Polidano 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.

For Malta’s development community, the ruling underscores the risks of relying on sanctioning applications to regularise past illegal works. The tribunal’s detailed scrutiny of building depth and soil take-up calculations signals that planning safeguards for protected open spaces will be enforced, even after PA board approval. Developers pursuing similar strategies face heightened regulatory uncertainty and potential project delays.

The application must now return to the stage before the case officer’s report, with building depth, soil take-up and planting reconsidered. Polidano’s Balzan project remains in limbo, with no clear timeline for resolution.