The Planning Authority refused unanimously an application to sanction the partly illegal Gaffarena fuel station in Qormi.

The application cannot be considered unless illegal developments are removed, the PA board decided at a hearing this morning. Among other objections, the PA said the extra floor built at the station breached the stipulated height limitations policy. 

In March 2014, the Planning Authority granted the J. Gaffarena Fuel Station clearance to operate for three more years on the strict condition that the facility’s illegalities would be removed or sanctioned. Otherwise, the station would be closed down.

According to the agreement signed in March 2014 and exposed by Times of Malta, the Gaffarenas were given a three-year temporary licence to operate the ‘legal’ parts of the development. This meant that while they could sell fuel and operate a car wash, they could not use the basement and a whole first floor office space which were built illegally.

In order to safeguard its rights, the Planning Authority had asked the Gaffarenas to deposit a €500,000 bid bond which would be used to enforce its order in case illegalities persisted beyond the three-year period.

The Nationalist Party has always maintained that this was a pre-electoral agreement between Labour and the Gaffarena family.

Prime Minster Joseph Muscat denies there was any such deal, although he admits he had met the Gaffarenas before the election.

In a tweet, the PN's representative on the Planning Authority asked whether the tribunal would overturn this decision.

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