The Gzira Local council has decided to open an appeal in the law courts against the relocation of a petrol pump to the Gzira’s public garden.

In a statement published by the Local Council, Gzira mayor Conrad Borg Manche explained that the council decision was taken in a public meeting in which lawyer and environmentalist Claire Bonello briefed the councillors on the legal case.

Eight councillors including minority leader Jeremy Cardona voted in favour of the appeal. Only Labour Councillor Alexander Zammit abstained.

Petrol pump owner Simon Muscat also attended the meeting.

Last week the Environmental and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) dismissed the appeal filed by the Gzira council against the permit to shift the pump to a 930 square metre site in the Council of Europe gardens.

The petrol pump already stirred controversy since it is placed on the foreshore, but the Local Council and the public were furious to find out it is to be moved to the only green space in the locality.

Borg Manche expressed that he was “utterly disappointed” of the decision made by the Environmental and Planning Review Tribunal.

“With all due respect I expected much better than justifying such a disgrace due to old policies and widening of roads that today make absolutely no sense.”

“Apart from the cardinal fact that it will take part in the garden and will be next to the only green open space in the most populated locality in Malta. It was already illegal to have a petrol station on the forshore let alone in a garden near the only space for our children”, Borg Manche had said.

The original application to relocate the fuel station was made in an attempt to widen the road and remove the bottleneck at the end of the Strand, yet the project never materialised.