NGOs question MEPA’s environment credentials

The Ramblers Association, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Malta Organic Agriculture Movement and Friends of the Earth (Malta) have called for the immediate rescinding of the full development permit recently granted by the MEPA Board for the relocation of a petrol station from Mgarr square to a pristine Out of Development Zone in the same village.

The NGOs said the outline permit for the petrol station on this site had already expired on the 28 March 2011.

“Since the MEPA chairman stated that the full permit was granted principally because MEPA was ‘committed’ by the outline permit, the NGOs maintain that MEPA has no alternative but to immediately revoke the full permit since the outline permit was no longer valid when the full permit was granted,” the NGOs said in a statement.

The groups said the decision confirms the conviction that it was a big mistake to entrust the protection of the environment to the Planning Authority, because it continues to give precedence to planning considerations informed by at times unscrupulous commercial interest.

“This is the inevitable conclusion considering that alternative sites, already disturbed and obtainable around Mgarr, were not considered simply because the site was owned by the developer, because the local mayor backed the developer and because an Outline Permit was issued in 2006. Are these the sort of criteria which determine the fate of pristine ODZ and heritage in Malta?”