Maghtab residents who have been fighting against the construction of a fuel station close to some residences said they will appeal a controversial Planning Authority decision in favour of the development.
The original application was for full development permission for the relocation of an existing fuel station in Mosta with a new Fuel Station in Salina road, located outside the limits for development of Naxxar, which includes: car washing facility, ancillary Class 4B retail facilities and underlying garages as a replacement of two existing dilapidated farmhouses and their ground.
The application was originally filed back in 2014, but had been turned down by the Planning Authority before. The applicant then filed an appeal before the Environment Planning and Review Tribunal, who ordered that the application go back before the Planning Authority Bard, resulting in this latest decision.
On 7 December, the Planning Board had taken a preliminary vote on the application which saw six members vote against and just two in favour. Despite the preliminary vote which showed that members were going to vote against however, on 11 January the final vote saw the application pass, with residents speaking with this newsroom expressing surprise.
One resident said that he is currently discussing procedure with his legal consultants, but intends to file an appeal on the decision. He mentioned that in the final vote, a number of PA board members who were not present for the preliminary hearing turned up and cast their vote. He mentioned that the presentations were made during the sitting when the preliminary vote was taken, and not during the sitting when the final vote was taken, and questioned how the board members not present on 7 December were able to take a vote since they had not heard the residents arguments. He believes that the members who had not heard the presentations should have abstained and not have had a vote. He also expressed surprise at how two members who indicated that they would vote against in the 7 December hearing, voted in favour in the final hearing when nothing had changed in the application.
The resident believes that the appeal will be before the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal, however he is still checking with his legal consultants as to the correct procedure. The resident also brought up the petition presented to the Board which contained residential signatures in favour of the development. He said that the Board should go by what is in the law and in regulations, not by numbers, and also said that other residents he spoke to are still against the project. The PA is there to ensure that the law is upheld, he said, saying that the law should not be ignored due to a majority or minority.
Residents had argued over the years, among other things, that the application runs counter to to Rural Objective 4 of the Strategic Plan for Environment and Development (SPED), and had also, in the past, highlighted safety and environmental concerns. The applicant had presented arguments to counter these.
This newsroom also contacted the Head of the Maghtab Residents Association, John Portelli, who also expressed surprise at the decision. He said that the association will back the appeal. He said that Maghtab residents had signed a petition years ago against the application for the station and said that no residents came forward to remove their name from that petition, which he says is still valid. He said that the Association still needs to go through the petition recently filed in favour of the project which was said to include Maghtab residents.
On the vote situation, Portelli called it “irregular”. This vote was also taken by people who were never present for the presentation, he said.
Government and Opposition representatives Clayton Bartolo and Ryan Callus both voted in favour of the project, as did PA deputy chairman Elizabeth Ellul. PA chairman Vince Cassar, ERA chairman Victor Axiak and NGO representative Annick Bonello were among those opposed.