It was predicted by FAA as a troublesome application. Instead, everything went swimmingly the only concern being how it came about there were two applications for the same site and how to unite them.

The applications in question regarded the Ta' Klement Hard Stone Quarry at Qala from where the big blocks used for the Renzo Piano Parliament in Valletta came.

The sitting was attended by a number of legal advisors and architects representing the various parties, notably the owners and the Qala local council with whom the quarry owners seem at loggerheads.

The two issues are intertwined: one reason there were two applications was that formerly the permits had a year's duration and somehow a renewal application seems to have leapfrogged the previous one.

Then there was the issue of payment: the quarry owners were asked to deposit €2300 to the council for the upkeep of roads, on evidence the roads had been upgraded. But the council said no money had ever reached it and the quarry owners said the council did not do any road maintenance.

The local council representatives loudly complained the trucks were not keeping to the suggested route which avoids the village centre except in the last days before the hearing. The quarry owners said the roads are used by everyone and suggested the local council sets up CCTV to monitor the use of the roads.