The Gibraltar FA has been ordered by the Development and Planning Commission to "stop unauthorised work that was being carried out on the site of the proposed Europa Point stadium," according to Eyleen Sheil of the GIBRALTAR CHRONICLE. The order to stop came at Tuesday's DPC meeting when it was discovered that the GFA had been "conducting site investigations including drilling at Europa Point without the correct permissions to do so." The DPC also asked the GFA to "conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and an Appropriate Assessment (AA) and report back to the Commission on both." The decision came at the end of a "packed public meeting during which various camps in the stadium debate set out their respective views on the project." The GFA explained the design behind the project, which it said would be of "much wider benefit to the community." Objectors, however, set out "their concerns that the stadium would spell the end for Europa Point." For their part, the two Gibraltar Government ministers sitting on the DPC "voiced doubts about the scheme, which is a GFA project but will be built on public land" (GIBRALTAR CHRONICLE, 4/9). The GIBRALTAR CHRONICLE reported following the work stoppage, Town Planner Paul Origo "took a different position." Origo: "Following [Tuesday's] DPC meeting the applicants have now clarified the nature of the survey works that are currently being undertaken at the site and we have confirmed that no permission is required from the Town Planning department to undertake these." The GFA said in a statement that the site investigations do not "require the permission" from the DPC. The GFA statement added, "The Town Planner verbally confirmed that no permit is required after the DPC meeting and simply requested that in relation this particular project, due to the public interest it is receiving, that he be notified as a matter of courtesy" (GIBRALTAR CHRONICLE, 4/10).
