Filenews 9 May 2023 - by Angelos Nicolaou
Eight years have passed since the severe environmental damage caused by the rocking of the coastline and the creation of an artificial cove on the coastal front in the Ammos area of Kambouri in Ayia Napa. Since then, the area has not been restored from illegal interventions, which is the responsibility of the Municipality of Ayia Napa, while on the other hand appeals of affected companies are pending in the courts.
Between 2012-2014, arbitrary and illegal interventions were carried out within the Beach Protection Zone and Da1 Urban Protection Zone, at the location of Ammos tou Kambouris, which among others include the rocking of the coastline, the alteration of the rocky beach, the deforestation of natural vegetation and the creation of an artificial cove. Illegalities that occupied the parliamentary committee on the interior and next Thursday the debate will continue. The Department of Town Planning and Housing replied in writing to a series of questions posed by Green MP Alexandra Attalidou to the competent authorities during this session.
As mentioned, the Planning Authority (Famagusta District Officer of the Department of Town Planning and Housing) found in 2015 these interventions (rocking and creation of an artificial cove and intrusion of sea waters into the Beach Protection Zone and Special Protection Area). Subsequently, on 22/7/2015, it served an Enforcement Notice on two companies and the director of the said companies, who owned adjacent developments, after the Planning Authority considered that they had a substantially affected interest in the said arbitrariness, given that they had posted advertisements on the internet and in the area of Ayia Napa depicting their developments (residences) to have a direct connection to the site of the arbitrary interventions.
Both the companies and the director of the companies filed Hierarchical Appeals against the above decision of the Planning Authority, which were examined by the Minister of Interior in 2018 and rejected. Subsequently, they filed appeals to the Supreme Court against the decision of the Minister of Interior to dismiss the Hierarchical Appeals. These appeals are being examined, and are some for clarification on 9/10/2023.
At the same time, in 2016, the Famagusta Police Director proceeded with the registration of a criminal case against the two companies, through the Famagusta District Court. Specifically, two charges were registered for interference on the beach and theft of property of the Republic (gravel, sand or other material), which, however, were rejected since, based on the Court's decision, the prosecution failed to prove beyond any reasonable doubt the above charges against the defendants and therefore acquitted them.
However, questions arise about the answer given by the Department of Town Planning to the question whether the Church owns any plot of land where four hotel units are located, Formatio, Cape Greco, Sensatori and Marystone. The competent Department concealed the real owner, which is the Church, stating that none of these applications is the property of the Holy Archdiocese of Cyprus. The Department calls for a re-examination of the content of the files of the above four applications (title deeds, etc.), both on the date of their submission and today. He notes, however, that the Planning Authority (Director and Famagusta District Officer of the Department of Town Planning and Housing) examines the four applications for the construction of hotels and mixed tourist developments. Furthermore, it states that for all four applications, revised plans are expected in order to adopt the terms of the Special Cumulative Impact Report (Special Ecological Assessment Report), from Existing, Proposed and Future Projects in the Special Protection Area "Agia Thekla - Liopetri", in Famagusta District, which was issued by the Environmental Authority in June 2021.
This is how the policy statement in Ayia Napa changed
The Department of Town Planning was also asked to answer the questions raised about the revised Ayia Napa Policy Statement (2017), which was taken by an irregular decision of the Minister of Interior, introduced an amendment, by which hotel units with a maximum building density coefficient of 0.30 (30%), a maximum coverage rate of 0.20 (20%) and a maximum of 3 floors are allowed in the same area and zones. while an additional incentive is provided to increase the maximum building density coefficient and coverage rate to 0.40 (40%) for tourist developments, which concern applications for the construction of hotel units submitted to the Planning Authority within a period of two years from the date of publication of the revised Ayia Napa Policy Statement (2017) and implemented within three years from the date of entry into force of the planning permit. It is noted that the above modifications of the urban planning regime were made without consulting the views of the Department of Environment and without undergoing a Strategic Environmental Impact Study and a Special Ecological Assessment Study.
In its reply, the Department of Town Planning notes that within the framework of the procedure approved by the Minister of Interior for the study of objections, the Famagusta District Administration, as coordinator of the Objections Study Committee, sent its work to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior on 2/12/2016. With these, the AMU unanimously recommended "... To accept the construction of high-quality hotel units in the area, with the aim of upgrading the tourist product and the more efficient operation of the tourism market".
The UGS suggested that the increase of the building ratio in the area should be accepted, which was deemed necessary in order to be able to build and operate hotel units. In order to determine the exact size of the building coefficient, the representative of the Director of the Department suggested that the building ratio should not exceed 0.30:1, given that the area has a policy to limit the height of developments for integration purposes into its peculiar landscape, that along with the incentives provided for tourist developments, they will be able to benefit from a ratio of 0.36:1, and that such regulations apply in coastal areas with a sensitive environment, as in this case, surrounded by a Nature and Landscape Protection Area Da1. In other words, it proposed a building ratio which is considered as the minimum necessary for the viability / functionality of hotel developments, which are a desirable form of tourism development, instead of what had been proposed, which together with the incentives provided for tourist developments, would amount to 0.60:1.
The Minister of the Interior formed an opinion in relation to the objections under consideration and submitted the objections to the Council of Ministers for discussion and approval together with his own observations and recommendations as provided for in Article 18A, paragraph (10) of the Town and Country Planning Law. Finally, the Council of Ministers adopted the proposals of the Minister of Interior and approved the Ayia Napa Policy Statement and announced its publication.
INTERVENTION
Why do they hide the landowner?
MP Alex's question. Attalidou to the Department of Town Planning was clear: Whether the Church owns any plot of land where the four planned hotel units in the Ayia Napa area are located. On the contrary, the response of the Department of Town Planning is misleading since it claims that none of the four applications is the property of the Holy Archdiocese of Cyprus. However, as it emerges even through the environmental study of one of the applicants, the area of the project concerns land leased by the Church. It is the Church itself that exchanged a series of letters with competent authorities for a particular hotel, as well as the Church itself that has a series of contacts with government officials in order to promote its interests in the region. Now why the Department of Town Planning conceals the real owner of the land, it must itself provide the answers.
