Made on behalf of the Claimants
Witness: L.W.Culatto
2nd Statement of Witness
In The Matter of an Application for Judicial Review
BETWEEN
(2) STEVEN HARRISON
(3) GINO BOSSINO
-and-
DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING COMMISSION
-and-
OEM ROSIA
DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED
First Interested
Party
-and-
Second Interested Party
___________________________
SECOND WITNESS STATEMENT OF LIONEL W CULATTO
___________________________
1. This Witness Statement is supplementary to my statement of 19th January 2006.
2. After the Court Hearing last week, I was asked to inspect the Naval Tanks on Monday 23rd January 2006 at 4pm.
3. At around 4pm on the Monday I arrived at the site in suitable clothing and Wellington boots to carry out the inspection. Mr William Serfaty, an architect, was with me as he had also been asked to make the inspection.
4. Present at the site were numerous other persons, many of which I do not know personally but included Mr Daniel Feetham and at least 2 if not 3 employees of Haymills, the contractors who seem to have been given possession of the site.
5. There are 6 vaulted tanks, each running north/south with number 6 to the east and number 1 to the west nearest the bay. Each tank has an entrance from an open area to the north. The entrances are just below the vaults of each tank so there is a fixed metal ladder to reach down to the floor of each chamber.
6. The entrance to number 6 tank was opened and we were told that there was still some water in the tank. One of the Haymills employees stated that no one would be allowed down and we would have to view the tanks from above. Mr Serfaty objected. I stated that I was there with the Court’s permission and to inspect the tank. Questions of health and safety were raised by the Haymills employee. I said that I was quite capable of looking after myself and after some heated exchanges, Mr Serfaty and myself were eventually allowed down on the basis that we would be responsible for our own safety.
7. I went down first followed by Mr Serfaty. We had two very powerful torches supplied by a local resident. My first impression was surprise and awe at the enormity of the chambers. It seemed 30 or 40 feet wide and some 200 feet long. There was only a few inches of water in part of the tank, the rest was dry. The floor was paved in a herringbone fashion with 12 inch x 6 inch flat bricks traditional in Gibraltar. The walls and vault were rendered. Everything was in perfect condition. It was an exhilarating experience.
8. We then had a look at tank number 4 which is slightly smaller. We did not go down. The vault was of exposed brick and the walls and floor were lined in a waterproof material installed some years ago.
9. A building above the tanks, which I believe was a pump house but the building was locked and Haymills did not have the key so we did not inspect it. To the north there is a large building of a later date (circa 1902) which we were told was connected to the brick lined tunnel referred to in the next paragraph.
10. Outside we inspected an arched opening to the east of the tanks and just above the slope leading to Rosia Bay. This led to a tunnel up to the tanks and was some 30 inches x 4 feet and was built of stone and seemed to be part of the original construction. Another tunnel clearly of later date and brick lined was sited further north.
11. This viewing has reinforced my opinion about the value of these buildings. Anyone who goes down in to the tanks cannot fail to be impressed. It would be an enormous loss if these buildings were to be destroyed or even partly destroyed. Indeed much their visual value depends on the size of the of chambers. If these chambers were truncated they would not be so impressive. I have been told that there is some talk about these buildings having deteriorated and being beyond repair. There is no truth in such a statement. In fact although the Government has apparently done nothing to maintain these buildings since they were handed over by the Ministry of Defence they are still in remarkably good condition.
12. These tanks are of course part of the whole Victualling Yard complex and were built together on one site so that both water and victuals were supplied from one site. It was all designed as one complex and should be
listed under the Gibraltar Heritage Trust Ordinance as one site. There is little doubt in my mind that the existence of these buildings would further justify the listing of Gibraltar as a World Heritage Site.
Dated the day of 2006
This Witness Statement is filed by Messrs Cruz & Co, Solicitors for the Claimants.