Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1240944
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 APRIL 2020 NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS A joint operation between Sliema and St Julian's district police, the immigration section and police canine units has led to the arrest of 11 persons on suspicion of drug trafficking and drug use in apartments and a public garden. The arrests came after police conducted a surveillance oper- ation on the Dragonara Road apartment which lasted several days. Two Latvian men aged 20 and 22 and a 33-year-old Span- ish woman were arrested in the apartment, which was al- so searched using sniffer dogs. Drug-related paraphernalia were found there. Meanwhile, in a nearby public garden, police acting on reports from the public observed a num- ber of persons allegedly using drugs and one of them selling the illegal substances. Eight persons, all Somali na- tionals, were arrested as a result. While the suspects were being spoken to by the police, sniffer dogs searched the area as well as the residence of the 30-year- old suspected trafficker in Triq Schreiber, St Julian's. In this search, an amount of what police suspect to be cannabis was found, together with weighing scales. Police investigations into the case are ongoing. 11 arrests in St Julian's drug bust and raid on apartment JAMES DEBONO AFTER more than two years of waiting and numerous protests by Moviment Graffitti, Envi- ronment Minister Aaron Farru- gia has finally approved a new policy regulating the develop- ment of fuel stations to replace a widely derided policy ap- proved in 2015 which allowed the development of 3,000sq.m fuel stations in the countryside. The policy closes many of the loopholes found in the 2015 policy, restricting petrol stations outside the develop- ment zones to a maximum of 1,000sq.m and excludes the use of agricultural land. But it does include a degree of flexibility with regards to the height of the new structures which will be determined on a "case by case" basis, and unlike previous policy drafts, the ap- proved document permits ca- tering establishments. Significantly, only fuel stations which pose safety and amenity issues inside urban areas will be eligible for relocation. This means that unlike the 2015 policy, existing petrol sta- tions deemed not to pose any problems to their neighbour- hood will not be eligible for re- location. It will be the Planning Authority following consulta- tion with Transport Malta and the Regulator for Energy and Water Services (REWS) which will determine which fuel sta- tions are eligible to relocate or not. Moreover, the new policy will apply to all applications sub- mitted prior to the coming into force of this policy and which have not been determined yet. But appeals against numerous past refusals will still be decided according to the old policy. Existing fuel stations located partially or fully in ODZ will al- so not be eligible for relocation. Furthermore, redevelopment, change of use and extensions of existing fuel stations located partially or fully in ODZ, will not be considered. Another significant departure from the 2015 policy is that no new fuel stations will be permit- ted unless they result in the re- location of an existing fuel sta- tion. Under the previous policy regime, a brand new fuel station was allowed in Burmarrad as the policy allowed new fuel sta- tions on ODZ sites adjacent to industrial or storage areas. Moreover, relocations in the ODZ will be limited to sites already committed by develop- ment carried out before 1967, with the added qualification that the development in ques- tion is not related to agricul- ture, animal husbandry, or oth- er similar rural development. This means that most of the sites eligible for development will consist of abandoned in- dustrial sites or abandoned quarries. In this case, the size of the new fuel station is limited ei- ther to the site in question or to 1,000sq.m of land, whichever is the smaller. The applicant shall be obliged to rehabilitate the excess area over 1,000sq.m. Although the policy bans new petrol stations on agricultur- al land, the definition of agri- cultural land is not spelt out clearly, and is left to the inter- pretation of the Agricultural Advisory Committee, a govern- ment-appointed body which will have the final say on the matter. Moreover, the establishment of a fuel station on the site will have to result in a wider envi- ronmental improvement to the area. Isolated and sporadic sites in the rural landscape will not be considered. One stipulation reintroduced in the approved policy after being removed from the latest drafts is that fuel stations shall not be permitted within a 500m distance of an existing fuel sta- tion in the same direction of traffic. Significantly, the policy bans the use of groundwater for an- cillary facilities like car washes. But unlike the present policy, the approved policy does leave a degree of flexibility with re- gards to the height of the newly relocated petrol stations which was previously limited to sev- en metres. The policy states that the height of the resulting structure above the surround- ing terrain would be deter- mined on a "case by case basis". But in the case of sites which "are distant from the designat- ed development zones", special care will be taken to ensure that the buildings and structures do not contrast with or dominate the surrounding rural land- scape, "and in no case exceed an overall height of 7m". Innovative designs will be con- sidered favourably on "a case by case basis", a term which may open new loopholes. Another significant change is that the ban on catering estab- lishments as foreseen in previ- ous revisions issued for public consultation, has now been removed. In fact, the approved policy specifically includes "re- stricted retail and catering fa- cilities at the ground floor level only." Fuel station review closes most 2015 loopholes Fuel stations outside development zones limited to 1,000 square metres but does not ban catering establishments