An application to build a “crucial” bus depot outside the development scheme in Żebbuġ, filed by operator Arriva, was turned down yesterday by the planning authority, less than two months before the public transport reform starts.
The 9,116 square metre facility, which was to include a depot, parking space and maintenance shed with reservoirs, was to be built in a plot of agricultural land outside the development zone across the road from the Għar Ram industrial estate.
The application came to the planning authority board with a recommendation for approval but members were split down the middle when it came to a show of hands, with four in favour and four against. Board chairman Austin Walker used his casting vote and made it five against.
Judge Giovanni Bonello, Joe Vella, Charles Bonnici and Labour MP Roderick Galdes voted in favour while deputy chairman Sandra Magro, Philip Manduca, architect Joe Farrugia and Mr Walker gave the thumbs down.
The depot would have been used to provide regular and “heavy” maintenance of the buses and was “crucial” to the operation of the service, Arriva Malta managing director Keith Bastow explained during the hearing.
The public transport service kicks off on July 3 and will be run by Arriva for 10 years, with over 200 new buses taking to the roads.
Mr Bastow said there currently existed no operational infrastructure for the maintenance and parking of buses and Arriva had planned to have a depot in Malta and another in Xewkija.
The Żebbuġ site, owned by the Tumas group, which formed part of the winning consortium with German-owned company Arriva, was chosen because it was central to the company’s operations and close to main roads.
The project had initially been deemed acceptable following internal discussions at Mepa because it fell in line with its open storage policy, which allows 10 per cent of plots to be built up if they are outside development schemes but close to industrial areas.
However, board member Mr Farrugia argued that the chosen site was in the “wrong place” and pointed out that there were other central sites – not outside the development scheme – which could have been utilised.
He understood the land was easily available but every effort should be made for the depot to be placed in an industrial zone or a containment area.“We have to be really desperate to turn to using areas outside the development scheme,” Mr Farrugia said.
Deputy chairman Ms Magro pointed out that the only “connection” the land had with a nearby industrial area was that a part of it was close to a main road.
Their thoughts were echoed by Astrid Vella from the environment lobby group Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar and Alex Vella from the Ramblers’ Association who said more studies and research could have been carried out before discussing a project six months after it was filed.
However, the applicant on behalf of Arriva, Raymond Fenech, said the application could not have been filed before December and argued that no other site satisfied the company’s needs.
“When it will no longer be used as a bus depot, it will be reinstated to its former state – if there was an alternative site then we wouldn’t have touched this one,” he said.
Also, Transport Malta had offered the company a site but it did not satisfy their needs, Mr Fenech said.
Mr Galdes also argued in favour of the project, saying the best balance between development and planning had to be found.
“This is a national project and has a certain importance – will it work if the depot is based somewhere in Ħal Far, for example?” he queried.
The planning authority said the board concluded that “while it appreciates that this facility is an important component of the reform’s master plan, the proposed site, which today is virgin land, does not need to be sacrificed when alternative sites that have already been disturbed can be sought”.