A request to build a car wash on a petrol station site in Xewkija was turned down because the fuel pumps were built in the middle of an area earmarked for a service road.

The Environment and Planning Tribunal rejected two appeals filed by Attard Petrol Station to build the car wash and set up a tent. These had been filed after a development commission refused the application because of the location of the fuel pumps.

The petrol station’s access and exit to the arterial road “is considered to be a traffic hazard” and the service road would mitigate this hazard. The current “illegal location of the pumps is just in the middle of the service road and, therefore, the construction of the proposed service road itself is jeopardised”.

The original permit for the petrol station, issued in 1992, included a condition which required a service road to be built within two years, which did not take place. The owners also had to submit the colour scheme and materials used for the canopy.

However, the applicant’s architect argued that the position of the fuel pumps was according to the alignment ordered by a previous board and pointed out that the petrol station existed even before the service road.

Originally, the permit allowed the construction of a fuel pump around 38.5 metres away from the boundary wall with a traffic island separating it from the main road.

From aerial photos, it was clear that the pumps had been constructed at a distance of 49 metres, leaving them in the middle of the service road, it said.