Last checked at 11 Nov 2008 10:49
11 November 2008
MINOAN GROUP PLC
("Minoan" or "the Company")
Appeal Hearing - additional information
Minoan Group Plc, the AIM-quoted leisure resort developer, provides the following additional details further to the brief announcement regarding the Appeal Hearing released last Friday, 7 November 2008.
After submission by the Company of the Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA") for the Cavo Sidero Project, which was the most extensive EIA ever produced in Greece, the Environmental Terms were approved and signed off by six Ministries of the Greek Government in February 2007. An appeal against the Government approval was raised by the appellants on environmental and planning grounds and, after three deferrals, was heard by the country's Supreme Administrative Court, the Conseil d' Etat (the "Court"), last Friday.
A judge rapporteur, who had been appointed by the Court to study the case, produced a non-binding report in advance of the hearing. The view expressed in this report suggested the acceptance of the appeal and the annulment of the environmental terms of the project mainly on the basis that the planning route taken should have been under a special planning approval (POTA), rather than the usual tourism planning regulations under which our application was made. The Company has worked for over eight years with all of the past and present governments, and a large number of the relevant national, regional and local authorities. At no time did any of the parties involved consider POTA to be the correct, let alone obligatory, route to be followed.
At the hearing the legal teams representing the Company, the Foundation, local communities and stakeholders, as well as the legal representative of the Greek Government, strongly rebutted the report together with the entirety of the grounds of the appeal including the suggested grounds in the report for annulment relating to the status of the area within the Natura 2000 network and water management. The legal representative of the Government went further by saying that new forms of tourism were necessary for Greece and the Cavo Sidero Project was a prime example.
As part of the normal procedure, all parties were given two weeks by the Court to make written submissions supporting the representations made at the hearing. The relevant legal teams will prepare comprehensive documents rebutting the planning and other arguments in the report of the judge rapporteur. The Court, comprising thirty-five judges, will meet for deliberations and will ultimately issue its decision, which will be taken on a simple majority vote. The timing of the decision is at the sole discretion of the Court.
The Company has welcomed an unusual level of local support, explained by the belief that the Cavo Sidero Project will benefit the whole area and its communities, to the extent that the following parties have filed interventions with the Court in support of the Project:- the Foundation Panagia Akrotiriani, the Holy Metropolis of Ierapytna and Sitia, the Holy Stavropegian Monastery of our Lady of the Cape and St John, known as Moni Toplou, the Local Union of Municipalities of the Prefecture of Lassithi (including Itanos and Sitia), the Sitia Union of Agricultural Co'ops, the Sitia Hoteliers Union, the Commercial Association of Sitia, the Sitia Development Organization SA, the Union of TEBE, Merchants and TSA Pensioners, the Agricultural Union of Palaikastro, the Athletic Union of Itanos, the Cultural Union of Roussa Ekklisia Axelos and the Educational and Cultural Union Itanos.
A further announcement will be made when additional information becomes available.
For further information visit www.minoangroup.com or contact:
Christopher Egleton Minoan Group Plc 07808 722022
Bill Cole Minoan Group Plc 01689 897397
Jeremy Garrett-Cox/Nicola Marrin Seymour Pierce Limited 020 7107 8000
Nick Rome/Nick Farmer Bishopsgate Communications Ltd 020 7562 3350
Alan Frame Westport Communications Ltd 020 7404 7878