PD calls for revision of fuel service station policy

Partit Demokratiku said yesterday it was high time the fuel station policy was revisited, noting that at present there are 77 fuel stations, eight of which are in Gozo. The party observed that the Planning Authority is currently screening four other applications which were submitted before 2015.

Partit Demokratiku also noted that a Burmarrad fuel station was recently approved in breach of the 2015 Fuel Service Station Policy, as the stipulated 500-metre distance designated to separate one station from another was not upheld.

“The Fuel Service Station Policy allows for the screening of new stations or the relocation of stations from urban areas to ODZ land, as long as the site is designated non-agricultural and gives preference to locations designated Industrial Areas, SME sites, areas of Containment or Open Storage Areas.

“Up to now, the PA has not received any applications to have new stations at these preferred sites and it is not actively promoting urban fuel stations to be re-allocated in non-residential areas for health, amenity and safety reasons.”

Two of the screening fuel station applications are situated on the Mosta – Mgarr Bypass within the confines of rural Mgarr. The North West Local Plan denotes this location as an area of agricultural value which sits in the Bingemma and Wardija landscape plateaus. Section 13.9.2 states that the decline in available agricultural land is a serious threat to the quality of landscape in the region. PD claims the PA is repeatedly and irreversibly damaging our natural capital and that ERA (Environment Resource Authority) is toothless.

PD noted that the application asks for the demolition of an existing farmhouse and the construction of a fuel station with ancillary services, garages and cafeteria over an area of 27,000 sq.m. The policy restrictions on the footprint of such a development should not exceed 3000 sq.m. m. Along the same stretch of road, PA667/08 was approved and pristine agricultural land was disturbed by excavation, before the 2015 policy came into place and although the application was renewed this site was never built. This fuel station application asks for the re-allocation of the Mgarr village square station to the Mgarr-Mosta Bypass.

PD insisted that “it is very ap- parent that the Fuel Station Policy needs to be strictly adhered to, if not revisited. Furthermore, once a fuel station application is approved and rural land is disturbed, there is no enforcement to ensure that such a project is completed. The government also recently declared that local transport should be electric by 2040.

“PD observes that land speculators are buying relatively cheap agricultural land and turning it into a rural commercial gold mine with no public domain scruples, utilizing such a policy and even others. The government also needs to address the scenario that such entities may not remain commercially viable. PD is of the opinion that such services should be demolished and the sites restored to their original natural state.”