Civil aviation reiterates objections to Lidl’s Luqa supermarket

The Planning Authority’s Environment and Planning Review Tribunal confirmed a decision by the authority in 2015 not to issue a permit for shading canopies, solar panels and a play area in the car park of the Lidl supermarket in Luqa.

The supermarket itself was controversially approved by MEPA in 2007, against the advice of both the Civil Aviation Directorate and the Malta International Airport, which both had objected because the supermarket is located in the safety zone of the runway.

But Lidl’s architect, Kurt Camilleri Burlo, pointed out that if “Mepa didn’t find these objections worthy in 2007… I do not see why such reasons for refusal would be considered as reasons for refusal now”.

But called to the witness stand, the Civil Aviation’s Directorate Operations Officer, Stephen Muscat, insisted that “10 years ago the permit was issued despite the objections of the Civil Aviation Department” and the same objections still hold to the newly proposed development in the supermarket’s car park.

Lidl also pointed out that “there are numerous developments and roads that have been permitted within the airport’s safety zone”.

They also argued that runway 24 is a secondary runway that is rarely used by commercial aircraft due to the prevailing north-westerly winds. According to Lidl the height of the canopies is only 2.68m high.

“Trucks passing by Triq Hal Qormi are higher than that. Why would 2.68m be an issue?” they asked.

But Muscat replied that the road and other developments in the area were present before the Civil Aviation Department issued a policy banning any development in the safety zone. He also clarified that the policy applied to developments resulting in the congregation of a large number of people.

The Civil Aviation Directorate also warned that the proposed solar panels on the canopies could result in light being reflected in a way which would affect pilots while landing and no building development should be permitted due to the possibility of “aircraft accidents taking place in the area and as a measure to safeguard property and people.”

Signs in the car park erected after the permit was issued, still advise the general public that the site is located “within the direct path of low-flying aircraft” and therefore exposed to health and safety risks… “particularly in the event of an aircraft accident”.

Legal Notice 80 of 2004 provides that when low-flying aircraft, at or near an aerodrome, are likely to be hazardous to people or vehicular traffic, the aerodrome operator is obliged to post hazard warning notices on any public way that is adjacent to the manoeuvring area.

A report by former MEPA auditor Joe Falzon in 2010 confirmed that the permit for the supermarket was approved by MEPA despite the objections filed by the Civil Aviation authorities and the Malta International Airport, because the supermarket was located within 250m of runway 23, and its height was 2.5m higher than the runway approach protection surface.

The permit was even approved despite a previous refusal for a car hire firm to build a garage, because the site is within the public safety zone on the approach to the runway.