Valley 'saved' from development

An application to build workshops, an underground car park, unloading facilities and a cistern at Wied Garnaw, limits of Sta Lucija, was yesterday unanimously turned down by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

The decision was taken during a meeting of the authority's Development Control Commission.

The case officer's report said the site proposed for development was outside the development zone, adding that apart from a number of buildings in the vicinity, the site had a "characteristic agricultural landscape".

One of the structure plan policies prohibited any form of urbanisation outside areas specifically designated for urban uses while the site had not been identified as adequate for small and medium enterprises, the report said.

The intensification of industrial development in an area which was not zoned for development was objectionable in principle because it ran counter to current structure plan policies for non-urban areas.

The valley skirts Sta Lucija, Tarxien, Luqa, Ghaxaq and Gudja.

The hearing had originally been scheduled for last Monday but had been postponed because the local council had not been formally notified about it.

The DCC's decision can be appealed.

The Save Wied Garnaw Action Group had called on the DCC to reject the application. Last July about 4,000 people petitioned Mepa not to approve the development of an inorganic waste separation plant.

The action group yesterday commended the DCC for the decision, saying it would help save the valley from being destroyed by creeping industrial development.