The Gżira Local Council has started a petition to stop the relocation of a petrol station from Manoel Island to one of the locality’s only green spaces, Gżira Gardens. 

In a press release issued today, the local council outlined its reasons for starting the petition and the detrimental effect the move will have on the wellbeing of residents in the area.

“The Gżira community and the Maltese public are in desperate need of green open spaces in the ever-growing urban areas,” the petition said.

“Our children have nowhere else to play, our families have nowhere else to meet, our senior citizens have nowhere else to rest. The Gżira Garden is the last remaining oasis in a suffocated locality with construction, commercialisation and traffic.”

“We plead that no part of the Gżira Garden, which is the last precious open space, be given under any form of title, lease or exchanged to accommodate a fuel station, car wash and ancillary facilities but for the public to continue to enjoy the full range of this open green space.”

Since its launch earlier today, the petition has garnered more than 300 signatures. 

The application to relocate the fuel station was made in an attempt to widen the road and remove the bottleneck at the end of the Strand as one approaches the Manoel Island bridge.

In July, the Environmental and Planning Review Tribunal dismissed an appeal put forward by the local council to stop the relocation.

Following the tribunal’s decision, the local council unanimously agreed to appeal the permit and will see the matter out in a Court of Justice.

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