Assessment of the Level of Compliance of Petroleum Filling Stations to Development Control Standards on Land Space/Size and Setbacks in Anambra State.

Abstract

Sequel to the loss of lives and properties with other attendant negative socio-economic effects of non-compliance to development control standards, this study was conceived with the aim of assessing the level of compliance of petroleum filling stations to development control standards on land space/size and setbacks in Anambra State. The study adopted the survey research design and field measurement. There were actual field measurements of the filling stations under study as well as the use of imageries of the study areas to identify these filling stations and measure their level of compliance to set standards for distances and location. 270 filling stations which is about 31% of the total number of filling stations were sampled. Arc GIS 10.1 software was utilized to measure the distances between the sited Petroleum Filling Stations and the roads with the help of a computer system. The imagery used was Quickbird (0.5m resolution) and Ikonos (1m resolution). The age ranges between 2015 and 2018. The Software used was ESRI ArcGIS 10.3, GIS Software. It has a measuring tool which was used to measure the distance. The Imagery were added using the ‘Add’ tool. It was then displayed (re-projected) on Projected Coordinate System (UTM, WGS 1984, Zone 32) for accuracy. It was found that the overall level of compliance to land space/size and setback standards is 44.1 percent across the filling stations in Anambra State. That is to say that only 44.1 percent of the PFSs in Anambra State complied with the land space/size and setback standards of building filling stations. Also that there is significant difference between the distances of the filling stations sampled from the road and the set standards for setback. The study thus recommends that: the law should empower the planning officer(s) to prosecute all cases of illegal developments and plans by non-planners without the planners approval should be subjected to prosecution as well. There is great need for public participation as the owners of these lands can join hands to say that a wrongly sited structure cannot be. Campaign should be mounted to conscientize the filling station owners and other developers of the dangers of non-compliance to set standards. Open punishment should be given to all defaulters to the set standards and corrupt officials of the enforcement agencies/bodies for others to learn their lessons. Finally, there should be proper planning to accommodate future expansion of roads.