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The Administrative Court of Appeal has dismissed an application by eight communities seeking to suspend the planning permit for an asphalt concrete production plant planned near Mitsero.
The request was submitted by the communities of Mitsero, Agrokipia, Agios Ioannis (Nicosia), Kato Moni, Arediou, Meniko, Malounta and Orounta. They asked the court to put the permit on hold until their appeal against the development is decided. The facility is intended to relocate from the residential area of Dali to a site near Mitsero.
The ruling follows an earlier decision by the Administrative Court, which rejected the communities' legal challenge and confirmed the validity of the planning permit.
In its majority judgment, the Court of Appeal found no clear evidence that the permit was unlawful or that allowing the project to proceed before the appeal is heard would cause irreparable damage, including environmental or public health harm, as claimed by the applicants.
A dissenting judge took a different view, concluding that the application should have been dismissed because it lacked the necessary procedural foundation.
The Court of Appeal also instructed the parties to proceed with an expedited hearing of the pending appeal.
The Republic's legal team was led by Senior Counsel Theodora Piperi-Christodoulou and Counsel Thasos Chatziloukas, acting on behalf of the Attorney General.
