Andre Callus, a spokesman for the NGO Moviment Graffitti, which recently organised a protest at the PA calling for applications to be suspended until the revision is complete, described the decision was “insane”.

“If the pending applications are all approved, they will have approved all possible applications,” he told the Times of Malta.

“It’s useless to review the policy after all the applications have been processed.”

Mr Callus added that while the core of the revision – directing fuel stations away from ODZ land – was positive, the government risked creating a sudden rush of applications if it did not suspend the current policy until the new one was in place.