The Planning Authority has agreed to renew a permit to relocate an Mġarr fuel station from the village square to ODZ land on its outskirts, despite pending illegalities dating back more than 20 years.
A permit to move the small kerbside station to 2,400 square metres of agricultural land off Triq L-Imġarr in Żebbiegħ was issued in 2011. Works have so far not progressed beyond excavation, and with the original permit expired, the developer Michael Galea had applied to have it renewed.
The original permit included a condition requiring the removal of an illegal storage yard and tented workshop area close to the existing fuel station, for which enforcement notices were issued in 2006.
This requirement was not met, although most of the illegal site was cleared last year.
During a hearing on Thursday, the PA board rejected a proposed amendment that would have required these illegalities to be addressed before a new permit was issued.
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Instead, the board voted six to three in favour of renewing the permit for another five years. The illegalities will still need to be addressed, which the project architect said should take around eight months.
NGO representative Annick Bonello, as well as Matthew Pace and Joseph Brincat, voted against.
The proposal includes an adjoining showroom and workshop, a car wash, a jet wash and a parking space.
When the original permit was issued in 2012, environmental groups had argued that the relocation would relieve one area of an eyesore and health hazard only to inflict it elsewhere.
However, the Mġarr council and residents had supported the move, insisting the main square was not an appropriate place for the petrol station.
Since then, another application has been submitted for a fuel station just 1.5 kilometres away along the same road. The Hal Mann Vellsix Group also targets agricultural land outside development zones and has drawn objections from the Environment and Resources Authority.
The Sunday Times of Malta reported that more than 46,500 square metres of ODZ land - five times the size of the Granaries in Floriana - have been earmarked for fuel stations under 14 different development applications submitted or approved since the introduction of the controversial Fuel Service Stations Policy in 2015.
Three of these applications have already been approved while the rest are pending or undergoing screening. They include new and relocated facilities, and range in size from around 1,500 to 5,000 square metres each, many on agricultural land.
The Fuel Stations Policy is currently facing a review ordered by environment minister José Herrera to address the “burden such developments are posing on agricultural or ecologically important land”.
The review comes after a string of facilities were approved on virgin land in Burmarrad, Marsascala and Magħtab despite the objections of the ERA.