Ramla Bay (, "red sands") is a bay with a beach of reddish-coloured sand in

Gozo Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After t ...

, in the Maltese Islands. It lies on the north-east coast of the island, between the bays of

Marsalforn Marsalforn (Pronounced: ''Marsa el-Forn, , '' Maltese: ''Marsalforn''), also written as M'Forn for shortcut purposes, is a town on the north coast of Gozo, the second largest island of the Maltese archipelago. The town lies between the hi ...

and San Blas. The closest village is

Xagħra Xagħra ( mt, Ix-Xagħra) is an administrative unit of Malta, on the island of Gozo. It is one of the earliest inhabited parts of Gozo, being home to the Ġgantija megalithic temples which date back to the year 3600BC and the Xagħra Stone Circl ...

Planning permission

On June 6, 2007, the

Malta Environment and Planning Authority The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA, mt, L-Awtorità ta' Malta dwar l-Ambjent u l-Ippjanar) was the national agency responsible for the environment and planning in Malta. It was established to regulate the environment and planning ...

(MEPA) approved the construction of 23 villas next to Calypso Cave, despite the objection of the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage, the Labour Party, the

Alternattiva Demokratika Democratic Alternative ( mt, Alternattiva Demokratika), sometimes referred to as AD – The Green Party, was a green political party in Malta. The party was initially founded by a coalition of former Labour Party members and environmental acti ...

and Malta's main environmental organisation

MEPA did not request an environment impact assessment for the development, leading to a call for their resignation. The case was expected to be reported to

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

environment commissioner

Stavros Dimas Stavros Dimas ( el, Σταύρος Δήμας, ; born 30 April 1941) is a Greek politician who was European Commissioner for the Environment from 2004 to 2009. From November 2011 to May 2012, he served in the government of Greece as Minister for ...

. Claims that archeologists had found no objection for the development were rebutted by the same consultants, who were told that the report was to help assess the promotion of a heritage trail, rather than a mega-building projec

Beaches of Malta Gozo Bays of Malta Xagħra {{Malta-geo-stub