Radio Broadcast:-
Key Words:- Development and Planning – CEPSA Oil Refinery – Western Beach
In today’s newsletter we look at the upcoming Development and Planning Commission meeting coming up next Tuesday the 25th February at 9.30am in the John Mackintosh Hall. The ESG has had a number of discussions with people in our community expressing views or concerns about some of the projects, which are now in sight for discussion and approval by the DPC.
In the past 12 months and especially since the start of 2014 a number of very significant building developments have been agreed, which, collectively, means Gibraltar will once again be relegated to a major building site, if temporarily so, for now. Whilst many see these as important for Gibraltar, by meeting social and economic needs, with the undoubted spin offs this will provide for the various related industries, the scale of some of the projects warrants careful, holistic handling. This is critical if we are to mitigate against various environmental impacts such as disruption to traffic, impact on air and noise quality, and generally, from the sense that we are once again living in a building site – something many will also agree we experienced under the previous administration.
There is no doubt that Gibraltar will be undergoing a major physical transformation and that we, as a community, and via a more public planning system, can and should become more involved in the decision making process.
For this we need information and it will be useful for those of you interested to know that projects such as Rosia Bay and the Caleta Hotel will be presented to the Commission on the 25th, that’s next Tuesday at 9.30am onwards. Hope to see you there. Oh, a reminder also that plans for these projects are up for viewing at the Town Planning Offices.
Tracking other issues as we do, the recent heavy pollution from the Cepsa Oil Refinery has not escaped our notice and we shall be issuing a press release on this later today.
Locally, the issue of Western Beach and bathing water quality remains as dire as ever. Check out the values on the EA site and you will see that levels of sewage remain illegal and a threat to public health. We continue to monitor and liaise with the MEPs on this and will also be releasing an update shortly.
Please contact us with any concerns or information at esg@gibtelecom.net. Call us at 54960000. Thanks for listening.
