Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/834699
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 31 MAY 2017 News 8 RECORD INVESTMENT IN DISCIPLINED FORCES More than €90 million State of-the-art equipment Professional training Improvement in working conditions For the quality service you deserve Police www.homeaairs.gov.mt/nipproteġuk Keeping you safe Army Civil Protection Correctional Facility Wied id-Dies fireworks factory extension set for approval JAMES DEBONO NEXT Friday, on the eve of the general election, the Planning Authority is set to approve the extension of an existing fire- works factory located on the side of 'Wied id-Dies' belong- ing to the Ghaqda Tan-Nar San Bartilmew The development is being allowed in an area which, ac- cording to a case offier report issued in 2014, has been pro- posed for scheduling as a level 2 and Level 3 Area of Ecologi- cal Importance (AEI). Before the approval of the new policy on fireworks ap- proved by the government in 2014 the application was rec- ommended for refusal because of the "environmental impacts on the existing natural fea- tures of the site". But in the latest report the case officer recommends ap- proval noting that the existing factory is covered by a permit issued in 1984 which creates a "commitment" on the rest of the site. Moreover accord- ing to the latest report the site is not located within an environmentally or archaeo- logically sensitive (scheduled) area. This is because the pro- posed scheduling of the area where the extension is being proposed has not yet been ap- proved. But the case officer admits that the area, which lies "just outside" the site boundary, is protected. Moreover the case officer notes that no habitable struc- tures of more than 100 people are situated within the 183m buffer zone stipulated by Arti- cle 4 of Chapter 33 of the Ex- plosives Ordinance Law. The submitted plans indicate that the main stores are located approximately 260m from the Swieqi residential scheme. The proposal has also been endorsed by the ad hoc com- mittee appointed by the gov- ernment to assess the safety issues related to fireworks fac- tories. Back in 2013 the Environ- ment Protection Directorate, which has now been replaced by the ERA had objected to the proposed extension due to the site being located along the valley sides of 'Wied id-Dies', being characterized by rich maquis vegetation (in particu- lar mature carob trees) and is being proposed for scheduling (level 2 AEI). "The proposed requirements, including the scattering of buildings, excavation for wells, sumps, underground shelter, and foreseeable ancillary in- terventions e.g. formation of access, uprooting of trees for safety reasons, suggest that the proposed development should not be located within this rela- tively unspoilt and undevel- oped landscape." The proposed development includes two18m2 stores with- in the limits of the existing blast walls, an underground shelter covering an area of 7.5m2 and 1.4m deep; three 35 sq.m. workshops, three 14 m2 workshops, one 21m2 mix- ing room and five blast walls, having a height of 2.16m, and covering a total footprint of 150m2. How policy was approved The new policy issued in 2014 was drafted by a commit- tee chaired by Labour MP Mi- chael Falzon, himself a lawyer of the pyrothecnics organisa- tion. The proposals were meant to address a vacuum in poli- cies concerning such fac- tories, which were previ- ously assessed on the basis of local plans which in most cases overruled such develop- ments in ODZ. The policy allows the de- velopment of new fireworks factories in buffer zones to ecological sites and on agricul- tural land. An ad hoc committee was appointed to conduct risk as- sessments for new applications for fireworks factories before these are submitted to the Malta Environment and Plan- ning Authority (MEPA). The first casualty of the new planning policy was an extension of a factory in an area of Luqa known as Ta' Hal Salfieni. Thanks to the new policy an application to devel- op a fireworks factory in Wied ir-Raghab in Gharb that had already been rejected in 2012, was approved in 2016. The application was previ- ously rejected because the site falls within an area of high landscape value and is next to an area of ecological impor- tance.