Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/546399
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 JULY 2015 12 News JURGEN BALZAN RESIDENTS are sounding the alert in Nadur, where a 1.4 metre high wall is feared will not only ru- in the view from Nadur belvedere, but that it will pave the way for the construction inside the adjacent green area. On Thursday, the MEPA board will take a final decision on a 12.8 metre long wall along part of the Nadur belvedere instead of a rail- ing to separate the public place from the applicant's property right below the belvedere. Part of the green area below the belvedere belongs to Andrew Vel- la, who unsuccessfully applied to build two separate houses with a garage below the ridge. MEPA's case officer has recom- mended the board to approve the application, dismissing numer- ous objections by the Nadur local council and residents. Nadur mayor Edward Said told MaltaToday the council is opposed to the development because the wall will deprive the public from the view from the highest part of the Nadur ridge, and claimed is in breach of MEPA's local plan. The council has told MEPA that the wall breaches the Rural Policy and Design Guidance, which limits wall heights to 1.2 metres, and the Gozo and Comino Local Plan poli- cies, which "seek to protect long- distance views." But Said adds that the key objec- tion lays in the fact that the wall will not guarantee privacy – as the applicant claims – given that people can still view the neglected field below the belvedere from the side of the wall. "The applicant is arguing that the wall is necessary to guarantee privacy. However, the land is currently unused so there is no need for privacy and if anything, people can still view the field from the sides of the wall," the mayor said. The construction of the wall, Said underlined, will deprive the public from scenic views, including the Gozo channel, which can currently be viewed from the belvedere. The MEPA case officer justified the positive recommendation by pointing out that a court deci- sion has allowed the construction of the 1.5m wall above Belvedere level, to delineate the property; and that the revised 1.4m height is the height normally allowed for a front garden boundary wall "so as to reduce the obstruction of views." The court decision of June 2004was decided in favour of the applicant to segregate his property from the belvedere area. The case officer said that al- though the site is a green area, "the proposed wall respects the court sentence and has been re-designed to better reflect its context." But the Nadur council believes that once the wall is erected, this could lead to the construction of the property below the ridge. In 2004, MEPA had already re- fused the construction of a house and garage right below the pro- posed wall. An identical applica- tion on an adjoining plot owned by Vella was also refused in 2003. The 2004 refusal was recom- mended by the case officer be- cause the site was a green area "as defined in the Temporary Provi- sions Scheme for Nadur and so it is located in an area which should be developed for recreational pur- poses." Echoing residents' fears, mayor Said said that the wall would set a dangerous precedent. "What will become of the green area? MEPA must decide whether it wants to protect or destroy the belvedere." Galdes denies 'fuel memo' on Gaffarena petrol pump JURGEN BALZAN PARLIAMENTARY secretary for rural affairs Roderick Galdes has denied that secretariat employees were advised by a memo, to refuel ministry vehicles at the J. Gaff pet- rol station – the once-illegal pet- rol pump owned by the Gaffarena family. Last week, an answer to a par- liamentary question posed to en- vironment minister Leo Brincat revealed that departments within the ministry were purchasing most of the fuel from the illegally-built J. Gaff service station in Qormi. However, Galdes has vehement- ly rejected claims that he ordered departments falling under his re- mit to make use of petrol station owned by Marco Gaffarena. Following this denial, MaltaTo- day received information that Gal- des – a former Qormi mayor – had sent an internal memo by email in which secretariat employees were told to refuel ministry cars at the J. Gaff service station. Galdes's spokesperson told this newspaper the parliamentary sec- retary "never sent a memo advis- ing secretariat employees to make specific use of J. Gaff service sta- tion to refuel vehicles." Another source told MaltaToday it was one of Galdes's closest aides who conveyed the message to sec- retariat employees to refuel min- istry vehicles at the Qormi petrol station. The secretariat's fleet of vehicles includes numerous vans, lorries and cars used by the fisheries de- partment, the civil abattoir and the directorate for parks, afforestation and countryside restoration. €21,300 was spent on fuel from that particular petrol station be- tween January and May this year, in sharp contrast to the €26,134 spent on such fuel throughout the whole of 2014. A note at the end of the PQ indi- cates that all fuel purchased from the J. Gaff Service Station was from departments that fall directly under Galdes, who has been elect- ed to parliament three times from the sixth district. Last week Galdes told MaltaTo- day that the petrol station in ques- tion is the nearest petrol station to the Ghammieri government farm in Marsa, that houses all the vehi- cles that fall under the Secretariat's responsibility, Galdes's spokesperson said the parliamentary secretary "categori- cally denies ever receiving gifts or donations from Marco Gaffarena or his family" during the 2008 and 2013 electoral campaigns. Wall threatens Nadur belvedere Campus, Għajnsielem. JF De Chambray Street, Għajnsielem, Gozo website: mcast.edu.mt - tel: 23987100 The proposed 12.8 metre long wall aimed at protecting the applicant's privacy overlooks a neglected field An artistic impression of what the belvedere will look like once the wall is erected