Four environmental groups are calling on the planning authority to withdraw the full development permit for a new petrol station in Mġarr, saying the outline permit had expired.

“Since the planning authority chairman said the full permit was granted principally because it was ‘committed’ by the outline, then it has no alternative but to immediately revoke the full permit since the outline was no longer valid,” the groups said in a statement.

The permit, approved last week, shifts the petrol station to an outside scheme area in Żebbiegħ, limits of Mġarr. Mġarr residents have welcomed the permit, saying it would improve the square and remove the danger.

The groups – Ramblers Association, Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar, Malta Organic Agriculture Movement and Friends of the Earth – said Mepa chairman Austin Walker was “aware that full development permits were refused in the past” even when the outline was still valid, let alone in this case.

This “negative” decision confirmed their conviction that “it was a big mistake” to entrust the environment’s protection to the planning authority which continued to give precedence to “planning considerations informed by, at times, unscrupulous commercial interest”.

They claimed that alternative sites, close to Mġarr and already disturbed, were not considered because the developer owned the site, was backed by the mayor and had an outline permit.

“Are these the sort of criteria which determine the fate of pristine scheduled land and heritage in Malta?” they queried.

The authority had a duty “to come down heavily” on the developer for disobeying an enforcement order, making a mockery of its authority, they said.

The archaeological, hydrological and scenic importance of the new location should have prompted a more thorough assessment and careful consideration of other relevant factors which had changed since 2006.

The environmental groups also queried why environment protection director Petra Bianchi “gave the project her blessing”.