The environment groups Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA), Friends of the Earth Malta, Gozo University Group, Malta Organic Agriculture Movement, Nature Trust Malta and Ramblers’ Association of Malta highlight the fact that the application to construct a Lidl supermarket on unbuilt fields in the Xewkija Valley is due to be decided tomorrow Friday.
View of proposed Lidl site
The decision on this case was deferred in spite of the fact that members of MEPA’s Environment and Planning Commission found that the site was too small to accommodate an outlet this size, with adequate parking and maneuvering space. Still a professional traffic safety audit has not taken place even though EU regulations require such an audit for such a public structure, especially since trailers and customers’ vehicles will enter and exit the store head-on into oncoming vehicles. This will obviously create confusion and danger, considering the continuous flow of traffic on this busy main road which carries all traffic between Victoria, Nadur and Xagħra.
At the last hearing, FAA also raised the point that MEPA regulations recommend that impact retail assessment is carried out for the opening of large supermarkets such as this one in Gozo, however this was ignored by the MEPA EPC board, in spite of the fact that this supermarket will have a significant impact both on other retail outlets in Gozo and on local residents, especially elderly residents, who will be most affected by the closure of small local grocers.
Most importantly, registered objectors were not informed of the submission of new plans, as is their legal right.
The six environment groups have always maintained that open agricultural land should not be built upon when empty buildings are available, alternatively by demolishing disused or dilapidated structures in urban areas. This was also raised by the EPC board which also pointed out that the Local Plan guidelines for this area do not include retail outlets.
The proposed site on the way to Victoria is a highly visible valley with Xagħra hill as a backdrop. What ruins the environment also ruins Gozo’s tourism potential, and must at all costs be avoided.
MEPA has already blighted Malta with past mistaken decisions, as we have recently seen in the cases of Wied il-Ghasel and the Madliena Ridge project. Since MEPA maintains that these past permits cannot be revoked, let us not repeat such mistakes. Building a supermarket in Xewkija valley next to an ECO-Gozo water catchment area, instead of in existing empty building, violates the principles of the National Environment Plan and every tenet of sustainability: environmental, social and economic. The outcome of this application will indicate whether all the talk of sustainability and ECO Gozo is to remain talk, or to become a genuine political commitment.