The Planning Authority has turned down an application for a petrol station on an area of pristine karst landscape outside the development zone on the Coast Road, citing its negative environmental impact.

The developer, Adrian Zammit, had sought permission to relocate an existing fuel station from Tower Road in Sliema to a 2,888-square-metre site on the Coast Road, close to Salina. The application included a car wash, VRT garage, office, retail facilities and underlying parking garage.

The stretch of coastline, which is protected as an Area of Ecological Importance, had been described by the Naxxar local council as “one of the last remaining stretches of low-lying coastal garrigue in the Maltese islands”.

The Environmental Planning Directorate ruled the location unacceptable in principle due to the environmental sensitivity of the site and the take-up of rural land that the development would entail.

The local council objected to the fuel station due to the possibility of pollution in the sea and valley, the visual impact and the effect on the public’s peaceful enjoyment of the Salina salt pans, which it hopes to re-establish as a recreational area.

During a Planning Authority hearing yesterday, the project architect said the choice of location was motivated by the lack of a service station anywhere along the 14-kilometre stretch of the Coast Road. The site was the only suitable one out of 14 that were considered, he said.

The architect also argued that the site had already been significantly disturbed by excavations during the reconstruction of the Coast Road, and that the plans for the new service station included a roof garden to allow the natural environment to be re-established. The application would also have seen the decommissioning of the existing fuel station in Tower Road, Sliema, a move supported by Sliema’s local council because of the inconvenience, traffic and safety issues for residents and visitors to the busy tourist area.

The PA board, however, voted unanimously against the proposal following the recommendation of the case officer, who concluded that the project went against the Fuel Service Stations Policy as it would give rise “to unacceptable adverse environmental impacts”. The case officer also concluded that the project failed to adhere to the sequential approach laid out in the Strategic Plan for Environment and Development, which calls for land take-up in rural areas to proceed only after all possible alternatives have been ruled out. The authority recently also turned down a similar proposal under the same policy to relocate a fuel station to a rural, residential area in Magħtab, citing the impact on rural land.

Environmental NGOs warned when the Service Stations Policy was introduced that it risked giving rise to a new urban sprawl. Malta already has 79 registered petrol stations, or one every five square kilometres.