The Church projects mentioned by the Bishop of Gozo Mario Grech in his Santa Marija homily are all situated outside development zones and raise serious environmental concerns.
In his homily to mark the feast of the Assumption, the bishop denounced that while “hotels and other structures are being developed… spiritual sanctuaries, cemeteries and projects to enhance accessibility to churches are being denied permits because some people are arguing they are an environmental disaster.”
Contacted by MaltaToday, Bishop Grech’s secretary Dun Eddie Zammit revealed that in his 15 August homily the Bishop was referring to the proposed car park next to the Cittadella bastions, the proposed retreat houses next to the Ta’ Pinu Sanctuary and two cemeteries, one in Nadur and one in Xaghra.
All of these applications lie outside development zones and rural conservation areas.
None of the applications mentioned by Dun Eddie Zammit have actually been turned down by MEPA.
The Xaghra Cemetery has already been granted an outline permit by MEPA. The Cittadella car park and the Ta’ Pinu sanctuary are all being considered by MEPA.
Zammit acknowledged that the Nadur cemetery had been approved by MEPA and that it was only stopped after the courts issued an injunction following a lawsuit by farmers in the area.
Asked why the Bishop was attacking MEPA for turning down permits when this was clearly not the case, Dun Eddie Zammit clarified that: “What the Bishop meant was that in all these cases MEPA was and is still making things difficult for us.”
The application for the Rabat car park was submitted by the Cathedral Chapter in 2003. Due to the very sensitive nature of this development alongside the Cittadella bastions, the developers were asked to submit an archeological impact assessment, a geological impact assessment and a traffic impact assessment.
MaltaToday is informed that MEPA’s case officer is presently working on his report on the project.
The proposed car park lies on a site occupying circa 6,000m2 in an area known ash ‘Ir-Raba ta’ wara s-Sur’ which is designated as an Outside Development Zone, a Special Area of Conservation and an Area of High Landscape Value.
The project is set to create 100 car-parking spaces. The Gozo Cathedral is the sole owner of the site, following an exchange of a separate parcel of land with government in 1999. The site was handed over to the Church for pastoral use. The Cathedral Chapter claims the development would enhance accessibility to the Cittadella by providing the necessary parking spaces for parishioners and other visitors to the Cittadella.

Xaghra – MEPA overrules experts to issue permit
Rather than putting spokes in the wheels for this development, the MEPA board had actually overruled the Planning Directorate when it granted an outline permit for this cemetery.
The Gozitan Church was originally granted a permit to extend a cemetery on a rural conservation area in Xaghra in 1994. In 2004 the Church applied to extend the cemetery and was granted an outline permit in 2005.
This controversial permit was granted despite a negative recommendation by the Planning Directorate, which claimed the siting, on a ridge, was not acceptable. The case officer report which called on MEPA to refuse the development stated that “the proposed development would lead to the contamination of a water catchments area.”
The case officer did not ask for an Environment Impact Assessment for the simple reason that “the application is unacceptable in principle”, but he also made it clear that should the outline permit be granted an EIA should take place.
Despite these objections, the MEPA board overruled the advice of its experts and approved the outline permit. MEPA is now considering the full development permit for the Xaghra cemetery extension. The case officer has now given a favorable recommendation for the permit without even asking for an EIA.

Nadur – “objectionable in principle”
MEPA was accused by Alternattiva Demokratika of accommodating the Church when it granted a controversial permit for the Nadur cemetery in October 2006 without even conducting an EIA.
It was not MEPA but the law courts which recently stopped construction works after the permit was granted.
Farmers who claim that the cemetery will contaminate the natural springs in the area have lodged an injunction against the development which was upheld by the courts.
When MEPA issued an outline application for the development of the cemetery in 2003, the case officer argued that an environmental impact assessment was not required because the cemetery was “objectionable in principle”, and should not be developed.
Yet after ignoring the case officer’s advice to turn down the outline permit, MEPA never requested the developers to conduct an EIA. By approving the cemetery, the authority ignored the advice of its own experts, who pointed out that the cemetery and its oversized chapel were outside the development zone. The chapel is described by the Environment Protection Directorate as “intrusive” and “jarring against the natural surroundings”.
According to the case officer’s report, the development violates the Structure Plan, which seeks the protection and enhancement of areas of scenic value.

Turning Ta’ Pinu into Lourdes
An outline application for the development of a tunnel, visitors’ centre, retreat houses, library and parking area next to the Ta’ Pinu church was only presented on June 2007, when MaltaToday revealed the details of another ODZ project last week.
Plans submitted to MEPA show proposals for the construction of the monastery around the shrine itself, three retreat houses, a library and parking areas for coaches and 101 private cars on the surrounding agricultural land around the shrine.
The area earmarked by the church for this development is mostly agricultural land owned by the church. The only existing building on the site is a public convenience, a tourist information shop next to the toilets and a small old building.
Speaking to MaltaToday last week the rector of the sanctuary Rev Michael Galea expressed his wish to turn Ta’ Pinu in to a Gozitan version of Lourdes. “We want to give visitors an audiovisual experience which they can take the religious message with them.”
According to Galea the development will include a retreat houses where up to 25 visitors will be able to spend a number of days in spiritual reflection. An application to construct an extension of the church at the back of the building was rejected by MEPA in 2003 as it was found incompatible with the environmental characteristics of the area. It was only approved after plans were amended after the developers applied for a reconsideration.

jdebono@maltatoday.com.mt