After Raising €20,000 From Public, Councils, NGOs And Residents Appeal Against Massive DB Project
After raising €20,000 from the general public, three local councils, nine NGOs and ten Pembroke and Swieqi residents have filed an appeal against the planning permit granted to the DB Group’s City Centre project.
This is the second crowdfunded move against the controversial tourism and residential project on the former ITS site in Pembroke, with the first one triggering the revocation of the original 2018 permit due to a conflict of interest by PA board member Matthew Pace.
However, the Planning Board granted DB a second permit last month, prompting a second crowdfunding drive to appeal the project in front of the Planning Tribunal.
Moviment Graffitti, one of the NGOs appealing the permit, described the project as a “monstrosity”.
It warned that the project, which includes the development of two 18 and 17-storey towers and a 12-storey hotel on public land in a residential area, will have “disastrous impacts” on important historical sites and areas of great natural sensitivity.
The NGO said the appellants outlined several grounds for the revocation of the permit, including the project’s non-conformity with many planning policies, the defective and incomplete studies submitted by the developer and a “manipulated process leading to an unfair Planning Board meeting and decision”.
The appeal was filed by:
- Pembroke Local Council
- St. Julian’s Local Council
- Swieqi Local Council
- ACT Malta
- Din l-Art Ħelwa
- Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar
- Friends of the Earth Malta
- Moviment Graffitti
- Nature Trust Malta
- Rota
- Sustainable Built Environment Malta
- The Archaeological Society Malta
- Ten Pembroke and Swieqi residents
BirdLife Malta and Ramblers Association of Malta supported the appeal too.
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