Store approved in scheduled Gnejna bay area

The approved store is located in an outside development zone within an area known as Irdum il-Hmar in the vicinity of Gnejna bay.

The Environment and Planning Commission has overruled both the Planning Directorate and the Environment Protection Directorate in approving a 15 square metre store in Gnejna.

The case officer had made it clear to the board that the approval was in breach of MEPA’s rural policy which precludes the development of stores in Level 1 and Level 2 protected areas.

The approved store is located in an outside development zone within an area known as Irdum il-Hmar in the vicinity of Gnejna bay. The site is scheduled as a Level 2 Area of Ecological Importance, an Area of High Landscape Value and a Special Area of Conservation.

The rural policy approved in 2014 states that scheduled locations such as Level 1 or 2 Areas of Ecological Importance “are in principle considered inappropriate locations” for the development of stores “unless it can be duly demonstrated through the necessary assessment that the development does not compromise the site scheduling characteristics”.

The EPC justified the approval by saying that the proposed store and underlying reservoir are located along the edge of a “change in soil levels” and the new development is “therefore mostly sunken”. Indigenous trees have been included to buffer the store. 

But the EPD had warned that the site is “unspoilt by physical development” and any new proposal for storage buildings could result in the environmental degradation of the area. The case officer described the development as being proposed “in a sensitive location, on high ground and within a relatively unspoilt area”.

The Agricultural Advisory Committee which assesses whether an application is required for agricultural needs recommended the development as long as no other rooms exist on the applicant’s holdings. The applicant, Philip Muscat, has been registered as a farmer since October 2014 according to documentation provided by the Agriculture Department.