Marsaxlokk council wants power station permit revoked

Marsaxlokk local council has submitted an appeal before the Mepa Appeals Board calling for the revocation of the permit issued for the power station extension.

The council argued that it made no sense for the Authority to have approved the building of the power station extension when no decision had yet been taken by Mepa on the fuel which the power station would use.

Architect Edric Micallef, who filed the appeal, said that during the consideration of the permit application, it was repeatedly stressed that what was under consideration was the structure of the power station, not the way it would operate. Yet the Authority had approved the development of a building based on the use of heavy fuel oil. In so doing, the Authority had prejudiced the choice of fuel when this was meant to be the subject of an IPPC permit. Should the use of heavy fuel be rejected, Mepa would have approved a building which would have no use.

Furthermore, the council said, various points it had raised during consideration of the development permit, including the height of the chimneys, noise levels and emissions, had not been answered, undermining the consultation process.

It had also been declared that if the IPPC process required structural modifications to the approved building, an application to amend the permit had to be made. This, the council said, confirmed how it did not make sense to approve the building before a decision was taken on how the power station extension would operate.