Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1241994
7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 29 APRIL 2020 NEWS ANALYSIS stations cut down to size nearby Pit Stop petrol station in Attard is at a distance of less than 500m from his proposed fuel station. Camilleri's architect claims the distance is actually 502m, and 510m apart, using the future configuration of the Cen- tral Link road project. Camilleri, son of Piju Camill- eri, advisor to the former Labour minister Lorry Sant, acquired a Birkirkara petrol station licence in 2014, with the intention of re- locating it to a property outside development zones. In the 1990s the site had been subject to a planning enforcement against an illegal dwelling by Michael Axisa, but the debris was left on site. Camilleri's proposal is lo- cated on the part of the site im- pacted by this enforcement. Another pending appeal also presented by the planning au- thority's former CEO Ian Sta- frace on behalf of Paul Abela questions the legality of the PA's refusal of the Maghtab fuel sta- tion, because the developer was not informed of the reason for refusal before the sitting was held. In fact the PA's planning directorate was still officially recommending the approval of the application before the sitting was held. The appellant pointed out that since the board had indicated its intention to overturn the case officer's favourable recommen- dation, it was legally obliged to issue new reasons for refusal before taking a vote in another session. The reason verbally given be- fore the vote was that a strategic plan for Maghtab approved in 2018 made it clear that the con- troversial fuel station policy does not apply to this area. But the appellants disagree with this interpretation, arguing that this simply meant that the application for a petrol station could not be evaluated accord- ing to the strategic plan but ac- cording to the 2015 fuel stations policy. The Planning Authority's ap- peals tribunal (EPRT) had al- ready revoked two previous planning board decisions, one of them in 2016 because the the PA board failed to explain why SPED policies protecting the rural environment should take precedence over the fuel stations policy. Another appeal, this time pre- sented by architect Robert Mu- sumeci, involves the extension of a fuel station in Zabbar on 500sq.m of adjacent agricultural land near the Hompesch Arch. The latest refusal to be issued by the PA was in December last year, for the proposed extension of the newly approved Marsas- kala petrol station opposite the Family Park, from 1,500sq.m to 3,000sq.m as foreseen under the old policy. But in another appeal present- ed by Stafrace on behalf of Pat- rick Guntrip, the Marsaskala de- velopers argue that the PA board justified its decision on generic policies protecting the rural en- vironment, and not on the basis of the 2015 fuel station rules. So while the new policy does not apply to pending appeals, it does apply to a number of pend- ing applications: such as the ap- plication to relocate a miniscule kerb-side pump in Pjazza Savina in Victoria, for a massive fuel station on 3,000sq.m of agricul- tural land along Hal Far road in Birzebbugia. Another is the relocation of Siggiewi village square pump to 1,600 sq.m of agricultural land along Mgr Mikiel Azzopardi road. The new policy may be in- voked to justify this relocation as the current location in front of a historical chapel is damaging to its surroundings. But both applications exceed the land use threshold of 1,000 sq.m envisaged in the new policy and the ban on development on the development of fuel stations on agricultural land. The new rules will limit relocations of urban pumps to spaces of just 1,000 square metres and only when the site is committed for non- agricultural development. Positively the new policy applies to all pending applications