Dua Lipa’s recently released Swan Song springs to mind when I think of Burmarrad’s current predicament. The phrase ‘swan song’ originally referred to an artist’s final performance, but it can also symbolically represent the inexorable demise of an entity.
Sticking to symbolism, the origin of Burmarrad’s name is its proximity to the Salini marshland, given that ‘Burmarrad’ is believed to denote a area of sickness. And this is exactly what is happening at Burmarrad to what was once a farming community and a hamlet, as the vultures home in.
The latest nail in the coffin for Burmarrad comes in the form of the umpteenth proposed fuel station (already rejected on two previous occasions), following on the heels of the fuel station located one kilometre down the road that was approved only last year.
It recently emerged that the same recently approved fuel station is to be embellished with an ‘eatery’, courtesy of a recent decision by the Planning Commission, despite the case officer’s legitimate observation that the selling of drinks and food is not complementary with the operations of a fuel station.
This is further proof, if any were needed, that fuel stations are just a smokescreen for the real revenue-generating activities within ODZ areas, which are, as a ploy, branded as ‘ancillary’ ones.
As if at this stage the accumulation of contempt was not enough, it emerges that a third fuel station for the Burmarrad area, located a mere 1.5 kilometres further up the main road towards Mosta, could potentially be on the cards, effectively turning Burmarrad into the Maltese islands’ fuel station mecca.
A recurring theme that emerges when environmental issues are debated on these islands is the skewed sequence in which they are debated. For instance, it had to be the resolve of Graffitti, through their radical actions, to draw the spotlight onto ODZ-uptake issues given that vast swathes of the Maltese public seem only interested in aspects related to their immediate urban surroundings.
Featuring high in the grievance list of many are building heights and their impact on installed PV panels, and the inconvenience of billowing dust clouds and excavation noise. However, with the emphasis being on environmental impacts in people’s immediate geographical surroundings, a blind eye tends to be turned to the hectares of ODZ land being lost round the clock. This speaks volumes about the shallowness of our supposed environmental awareness and credentials.
Even the Malta Developers Association (MDA), whose heart normally aches for issues related to ODZ uptake, has been silent on the proliferation of fuel stations in ODZ areas, suggesting that they nitpick the environmental issues they speak out about rather than adopt a consistent approach.
Fuel stations are just a smokescreen for the real revenue-generating activities within ODZ areas
What further raises eyebrows is that this application raised the hackles of the normally somnolent Agricultural Advisory Committee. This committee is usually coy about taking a stand during the planning process of ODZ applications but this time round it belled the cat, given the good agricultural quality of the proposed fuel station site.
A frequently used and blinkered argument during these planning processes is that the parcel of land to be lost has an insignificant agricultural value, as they are mainly used for fodder crops or currently riven by weeds (of the ‘ħaxix ħażin’ quality that developers so much like to latch onto).
Although this extenuating factor could not be availed of by the applicant this time round, the case officer still managed, in his generous report for this application, to dribble past this obstacle by stating that “the area in question was not designated in terms of its high agricultural value”. This is diametrically the opposite of what the Agricultural Advisory Committee is stating.
My hunch is that the issue will be decided not on its merits (given that the committee knows its Ps and Qs and it is evident that the area holds potential for agriculture) but in terms of the fine print. This will be done by latching on to the fact that the area lacks a ‘formal’ designation as a site of good agricultural value.
The tiny kerbside fuel station (top photo) proposes to move to the above ODZ agricultural area up the road… and balloon in size by 85 times from less than 20m2 to 1,700m2, with the blessing of the current planning policies.In an age where monetary considerations appear to trump any others, the committee was obliged to quantify, in pounds, shillings and pence, the potential annual agricultural yield of the earmarked location (which was estimated at €27,000), as if the landscape and open character value of the Burmarrad site are not assets in themselves worth conserving.
The fact that we need to resort to the economic argument in order to stand a chance with decision-makers, who seem absolutely oblivious to intangible values (e.g. landscape value), is sobering indeed. With or without the economic argument, the learned opinion of the agricultural experts will probably not win the day in any case due to the case officer report’s enthusiastic endorsement of the application.
In fact, the case officer brushed aside the vociferous and legitimate objections of the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA), which declared that this application represented “an unjustifiable further uptake of undeveloped land”. The case officer’s comment was simply that the current fuel stations policy permitted the relocation of the kerbside fuel station in Burmarrad to the new ODZ site given that the community would benefit from the relocation.
The case officer added that the applicant was benevolent enough to reduce the total footprint from 3,700m2 in his original application to the current 1,700m2. Well I guess we have had to be grateful for small mercies, except for one fact: the kerbside fuel station being relocated originally measured less than 20m2. And it certainly did not feature the zany and land-hungry paraphernalia being proposed for the new site, including offices, a retail outlet, a car wash and parking facilities.
Once this latest fuel station proposal is approved, the proponents of the supermarket right next door will feel emboldened to re-exhume their application, and the piecemeal encroachment within undeveloped areas will ensue undeterred.
The proponents of the original fuel stations policy had justified it on the basis that it would lead to the relocation of fuel stations from densely inhabited urban areas to peripheral areas, and this would curb the impacts on human health.
While this motivation is a legitimate one, why not ensure that the same footprint as the original fuel station is retained, rather than usher in an ODZ land uptake?
Transport Minister Ian Borg should definitely pay heed to the blanket ‘no further fuel stations in ODZ’ stance taken by Environment Minister José Herrera and put an end to these shenanigans once and for all.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece