Key Topics:  Developments & next DPC/ Climate Change/ Clean Up

It’s been some time since our last broadcast. The intense heat and heavy humidity we have experienced hasn’t made things too easy but we are glad to be back on the airwaves today, sharing our thoughts and concerns about our environment.

You may have seen our Press release this week regarding a proposal to build a rural hotel in our Nature Reserve. Regardless of the status of the land it is its location, which most concerns us. The GDP refers to the possibility of some type of rural accommodation at this site, but, as stressed by the Deputy Town Planner when this project came forward before DPC last year, it would be for minimal infrastructure and for a few clients, not a full blown hotel, with all the associated transport, lighting, noise pollution etc. this would create in an otherwise predominantly green area.

We also feel most strongly that development in Gibraltar has, over the years, eaten away at our natural habitat seeing significant parcels of land fall under diggers making room for ever more major structures. So the ESG urges everyone concerned to plse send objections to the Town Planners. Please see our website for press releases on this and on other issues.

Also on developments we see news of fresh ideas for the Caleta Hotel site and will wait to see the plans before passing any further comment. The Coaling Island reclamation is also set to go ahead to accommodate much of the Rubble Mountain on the eastside and we have called for a number of measures to be considered and for information to be presented regarding the logistics and transport associated with these major projects.

The next DPC meeting is set for the 8^th September with the agenda posted on the Town planning website a week beforehand. Meetings continue to take place online although we hope that physical meetings will resume as soon as Covid restrictions allow.

Listeners familiar with our work will know that we have lobbied and pushed for the Climate Strategy for Gibraltar to be released for some time and are therefore feeling more optimistic that Government has announced this will happen sometime in the next few weeks. We will obviously be very keen to see its implementation rolled out.

Although summer is coming to a close we would like to remind everyone to be more responsible with litter and waste. This can include cigarette butts, furniture and pretty much everything you need to dispose of. If unsure what to do you can always email us or check the Dept of Environment’s Thinking Green Facebook page for advice on current facilities for different waste types. It’s incredible and a little shocking that food related waste, in the main, is found almost everywhere you look, in street corners, beaches or green area, in fact, wherever there are people. Despite 17 years of Clean ups littering continues, to a lesser degree, but it’s still not good enough.

We shall raise the profile of these issues once again on 18^th September during our Clean up campaign and hope we can rely on the strong support of our community to get involved once more following Covid directives.  Please register to take part either as an individual or a team at esg@gibtelecom.net to be kept informed as plans for this begin in earnest.

Thank you for listening!

Lewis Battery Project

(Former Pig & Poultry Farm)

The ESG notes with concern that the Lewis Battery Hotel application, inside the Nature Reserve, is once again active on the planning website and calling for objections to be filed before the deadline of the 16^th September 2021. The ESG urges those concerned to file an objection with Town Planning as soon as possible.

Minutes of the discussion on this project, when the application first came to DPC, are published on the DPC website. Entry is dated the 29^th October 2020 and states in detail what was said. The Deputy Town Planner and Department for the Environment advised firmly against this development outlining the various clauses within the Gibraltar Development Plan and ecological reasons as to why.

The ESG fully concurred with their advice believing we have sacred, remaining pockets of habitat in our Reserve, which must not only be preserved, but, in light of climate change, enhanced and expanded wherever possible.

This was the key point we raised at the DPC meeting, that, rather than build and develop a brown site of past human activity, in an otherwise rich, green and protected environment, that the correct action would be to re-landscape and reforest this site, especially given the habitat loss suffered recently with the Old Casino Site, expansion of the top station and other excavation works related to development in areas near or buffering our Reserve.

The ESG is firmly opposed to commercial development of this type in our Nature Reserve that will see increased disturbance to our wildlife and believes many in our community share these views.