See video clip.
The Planning Board will today decide on an application for a mega fuel station on agricultural ODZ land in Luqa. The Board had already reviewed and voted on this application on the 5th April, when it voted against its approval, with the vote ending in a tie and the Chairperson of the Board voting against it. It is being re-discussed today due to a rule stating that a second vote should be taken in those cases where the decision of the Board is different from the recommendation of the Case Officer. Today, one would expect the Board to reaffirm the decision taken in the first vote, that of rejecting the application, also in view of the fact that the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) unequivocally opposes this petrol station because of the negative impact it would have on the environment. However, we are worried that the vote today risks ending with a different outcome from that of the last sitting. We have already seen this happening in other cases, such as the Magħtab petrol station, where the Board, for no apparent reason, changed its decision from one of refusal to one of approval. Thus, the fear that certain powers operating behind the scenes can determine the Planning Board’s decisions is real, based on what we have seen in several past cases.
Could it be that certain Planning Board members who are seldom present at Board meetings are brought in for specific meetings to ensure that certain applications are approved? And could it also be that certain Board members change their vote for reasons that have nothing to do with safeguarding public interest? Everyone should closely watch today’s vote and draw one’s own conclusions.
Moreover, the application for the ODZ petrol station in Luqa was initially scheduled to be heard on Thursday 17th May, when two other applications for ODZ petrol stations in Żebbuġ and Iklin were discussed and rejected by the Board. However, the discussion about the Luqa petrol station was then postponed to today. This postponement of the Luqa application raises questions on PA methods. In the wake of the other two refusals, public attention would be deflected and public outrage softened if the Luqa application is approved.
Approving the petrol station in Luqa would be an act of senseless environmental destruction. This so-called petrol station would take up an area of 4,816 m² of ODZ and agricultural land, in an area already saturated with other petrol stations. Calling this development a “petrol station” is also a misnomer since the bulk of it is composed of a different kind of commercial activity. In its review of this application, the ERA stated that: “there is no valid justification for the further loss of undeveloped land outside the development zone boundary, along with the associated environmental impacts to accommodate such use”. The ERA report also states that: “ERA does not consider that there is overarching justification why this undeveloped land which is also designated as a Green Area in the South Malta Local Plan as indicated in MAP SMSE 04 should be compromised with the proposed development.” The Board clearly has an obligation to safeguard the interests of the people in Malta and of future generations, their environment and their quality of life. A decision by the Board approving this development would be a blatant admission by the PA that it is simply a servant of the interests of a handful of developers.
We would also like to know what happened to the review of the 2015 Fuel Stations Policy that was promised by the Environment Minister. The ERA published its review of the policy over a month ago. We applaud ERA’s review since this includes many positive elements, primarily the policy change that will no longer allow petrol stations on ODZ land. However, the reviewed policy has not yet been approved by the relevant authorities and it has not yet come into effect.
The organisations participating in the Press Conference are: Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Din l-Art Ħelwa, Ramblers Association, Moviment Graffitti, BirdLife Malta, Friends of the Earth (Malta), Żminijietna, Nature Trust (Malta) and Kamp Emerġenza Ambjent
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L-approvazzjoni ta’ pompa tal-petrol enormi f’Ħal Luqa tkun att ta’ sfreġju ambjentali
Il-Bord tal-Ippjanar illum se jiddeċiedi dwar applikazzjoni għal pompa tal-petrol enormi fuq art agrikola u ODZ ġewwa Ħal Luqa. Il-Bord diġà ra u vvota kontra din l-applikazzjoni fil-5 ta’ April, meta kien hemm voti kontra daqs kemm kien hemm voti favur, biċ-Chairperson jivvota kontra. Din se terġa’ tiġi diskussa llum minħabba regola li tgħid li għandu jittieħed vot ieħor f’dawk il-każijiet fejn id-deċiżjoni tal-Board tmur kontra r-rakkomandazzjoni tal-Case Officer. Wieħed jistenna li llum il-Board jikkonferma d-deċiżjoni li ttieħdet fl-ewwel vot, dik li tiġi rrifjutata din l-applikazzjoni, anke minħabba l-fatt li l-Awtorità għall-Ambjent u r-Riżorsi (ERA) topponi bis-sħiħ din il-pompa tal-petrol minħabba l-impatt negattiv li se jkollha fuq l-ambjent. Iżda aħna ninsabu mħassba li hemm ir-riskju li l-vot ta’ llum ikollu eżitu differenti minn dak tal-aħħar laqgħa. Rajna li dan diġà seħħ f’każijiet oħra, bħal per eżempju fil-każ tal-pompa tal-petrol fil-Magħtab, fejn il-Bord, mingħajr ebda raġuni, qabad u biddel id-deċiżjoni tiegħu minn waħda ta’ rifjut għal waħda ta’ approvazzjoni. Għalhekk, il-biża li ċerti poteri li jaħdmu minn wara l-kwinti jiddeterminaw id-deċiżjonijiet tal-Bard hija waħda reali, ibbażata fuq dak li diġà rajna jiġri fil-passat.
Jista’ jkun li ċerti membri fuq il-Bord tal-Ippjanar, li rari jattendu għal-laqgħat tal-Bord, jinġiebu apposta f’ċerti laqgħat sabiex ikun żgurat li ċerti applikazzjonijiet jiġu approvati? U jista’ jkun ukoll il-każ li ċerti membri tal-Bord ibiddlu l-vot tagħhom minn laqgħa għall-oħra minħabba raġunijiet li m’għandhom xejn x’jaqsmu mal-ħarsien tal-interess pubbliku? Kulħadd għandu josserva mill-qrib il-vot ta’ llum u jasal għall-konklużjonijiet tiegħu.
Barra minn dan, l-applikazzjoni tal-pompa tal-petrol f’ODZ f’Ħal Luqa kienet inizjalment ippjanata li tiġi diskussa il-Ħamis 17 ta’ Mejju, meta żewġ applikazzjonijiet oħra ta’ pompi tal-petrol f’ODZ f’Ħaż Żebbuġ u l-Iklin ġew diskussi u rrifjutati mill-Bord. Iżda d-diskussjoni dwar il-pompa tal-petrol ta’ Ħal Luqa ġiet posposta għal llum. Dan il-posponiment iqajjem mistoqsijiet dwar il-metodi tal-PA. Wara r-rifjut taż-żewġ applikazzonijiet l-oħra, l-attenzjoni tan-nies għad-deċiżjoni ta’ llum tkun naqset, u jkollhom inqas rabja jekk l-applikazzjoni ta’ Ħal Luqa tiġi approvata.
L-approvazzjoni tal-pompa tal-petrol f’Ħal Luqa tkun att ta’ sfreġju ambjentali. Din ‘l hekk imsejħa pompa tal-petrol se tieħu 4,816 metru kwadru ta’ art agrikola u ODZ, f’żona diġà mimlija pompi tal-petrol. Li dan l-iżvilupp jissejjaħ “pompa tal-petrol” huwa wkoll qarrieqi għaliex il-biċċa l-kbira ta’ dan l-iżvilupp jikkonsisti f’tip ta’ attività kummerċjali differenti. L-ERA, fl-evalwazzjoni li għamlet tal-applikazzjoni tgħid “ma hemm ebda ġustifikazzjoni valida għat-telf ta’ iktar art mhux żviluppata barra ż-żoni tal-iżvilupp, u għall-impatti ambjentali li se jkun hemm sabiex jiġi akkomodat dan t-tip ta’ użu.” Ir-rapport tal-ERA jgħid ukoll: “L-ERA ma tarax li hemm ġustifikazzjoni ġenerali għaliex din l-art mhux żviluppata, li hija wkoll identifikata bħala Green Area fis-South Malta Local Plan kif indikat fil-Map SMSE 04, tiġi kompromessa bl-iżvilupp propost”. Il-Bord għandu oblligazzjoni ċara li jħares l-interessi tan-nies f’Malta u tal-ġenerazzjonijiet futuri, l-ambjent u l-kwalità tal-ħajja tagħhom. Deċiżjoni tal-Board li tapprova dan l-iżvilupp tkun ammissjoni ċara mill-PA li din qiegħda hemm biss biex taqdi l-interessi ta’ ftit żviluppaturi.
Nixtiequ wkoll inkunu nafu x’ġara mir-reviżjoni tal-Fuel Stations Policy tal-2015 li ġiet mwiegħda mill-Ministru għall-Ambjent. L-ERA ippubblikat ir-reviżjoni tagħha tal-policy iktar minn xahar ilu. Aħna nilqgħu pożittivament din ir-reviżjoni għaliex għandha bosta elementi pożittivi, primarjament il-bidla fil-policy li biha mhux se jkunu permessi iktar pompi tal-petrol fuq ODZ. Iżda din ir-reviżjoni għadha ma ġietx approvata mill-awtoritajiet ikkonċernati u għalhekk għadha ma daħlitx fis-seħħ.
L-għaqdiet li qed jipparteċipaw f’din il-Konferenza Stampa huma: Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Din l-Art Ħelwa, Ramblers Association, Moviment Graffitti, BirdLife Malta, Friends of the Earth (Malta), Żminijietna, Nature Trust (Malta) u Kamp Emerġenza Ambjent
