Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1110343
YOUR FIRST READ AND CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT maltatoday €1.95 2 today Blazing fables today today SUNDAY • 28 APRIL 2019 • ISSUE 1016 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Fuel stations 'cut down to size' in revised policy rules JOSIANNE CUTAJAR Labour's surprise star from Gozo is making headway in the MEP polls INTERVIEW 16-17 Teodor Reljic on the sensational Limestone Cowboy 2 PAGE 3 Plan to seal 3,000 manholes to stop illegal waste dumpers MATTHEW VELLA & JAMES DEBONO THERE will be no 'new' fuel sta- tions constructed outside de- velopment zones, and relocated fuel stations will no longer be permitted on agricultural land, a review of the controversial fuel service stations policy will propose. While the policy will insist that no take-up of fresh agri- cultural land will be allowed, the welcome development, however, jars with last week's approval of a Burmarrad petrol pump on land certified by the PA's agricultural advisory com- mittee. The document, to be released imminently, will repeal the existing Fuel Service Stations policy of April 2015, and any pending development applica- tions – except for commercial petroleum filling stations – shall be assessed according to the new policy. Crucially the policy will ap- ply to all pending applications, of which there are currently around 12. These include con- troversial applications for the relocation of fuel stations to ODZ sites like the Rabat Road in Attard, and to Hal Far, which would be overruled by the policy change. But much will depend on whether the Planning Author- ity will continue to process applications before the new policy is given the final seal of approval. According to law, the draft policy will have to be is- sued for public consultation for a period of six weeks. If, fol- lowing the public consultation, the PA decides to make new changes to the policy, it will have to hold another round of public consultation of another six weeks. Mapping out the Labour and Nationalist strongholds in the 2019 local council elections PGS 14-15 Prayer for Lassana A mysterious murder in cold blood PAGE 2 LOCAL ELECTIONS MATTHEW VELLA A cow's carcass, pigs' heads, 'fat- bergs' of congealed oil discharge, dozens of Sea Bass bred in unli- censed aquaculture operations... all of these have been illegally dumped inside Maltese sewers. But the damage such illegal waste is causing to the island's sewage treatment plants, is about to force through a drastic plan: sealing off 3,000 manholes around the island. 7 malta 1.95 SUNDAY • JOSIANNE CUTAJAR Labour's surprise star from Gozo is making headway in the MEP polls INTERVIEW 16-17 Mapping out the Labour and Nationalist strongholds in the 2019 local council elections PGS 14-15 LOCAL ELECTIONS