The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) said that earlier today it revoked, in accordance with the Provisions of Article 77 of the Environment & Development Planning Act, a planning permit which had been granted by the Development Control Commission (DCC) back in September 2010, for the construction of a car wash facility, on a vacant site located just outside the development zone of Birkirkara.

The Planning Directorate said that it started investigating the case after it was notified that the ‘approved’ Transport Malta plan was not the official position of Transport Malta. The Directorate notified Transport Malta and submitted for its attention the ‘approved’ Transport Malta plan which had guided the DCC in its decision.

Transport Malta confirmed to the Planning Directorate that the said plan was not to be considered as official correspondence between MEPA and Transport Malta.

“The outcome of this investigation clearly showed that the DCC was misguided,”it said, “when deciding on this case since the TM plan resulted not to be an official document of Transport Malta.”

Prior to the DCC’s decision back in 2010, the Planning Directorate had recommended that this application be refused because the proposed car-wash facility was to be situated within a designated area for future sports facilities/activities as identified in the Local Plan. It had also noted that the proposed car-wash would have a significant and unacceptable impact on the road network in the area.

Last week, the Authority referred this case to the Police to investigate.

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