WATCH: Siege On Planning Authority Underway As Activists Set Up Camp In Driveway
A group of activists have set up camp outside the driveway of the Planning Authority in a protest at its petrol station policies.
The activists, from Moviment Graffitti, have erected a banner on the PA gates which reads “Siege on the Planning Authority! Why do we need all these petrol stations?” and placed a model skeleton on a chair in a jibe at how long the policy review is taking.
Planning Authority workers are therefore unable to drive through the gates and have to enter their offices through a side door.
The petrol station policy allows the relocation of current fuel stations to land outside development zones as well as the construction of entirely new fuel stations on ODZ land.
In January 2018, Environment Minister José Herrera said concerns about the policy’s environmental impact had prompted him to instruct the Environment Authority (ERA) to propose revisions to the PA. Then in September, the PA confirmed that a specially-appointed team will finalise its review of the policy in the coming days, after which it will be sent to the PA’s Executive Council for its endorsement and then issued for a six weeks public consultation exercise.
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