Malta's best-remaining site for astronomical observations is set for increased light pollution after a tribunal decided to grant a restaurant permission to light up more bulbs.

A Planning Authority ruling to refuse embellishment works on the restaurant in Dwejra, Gozo, was overturned this week by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal.

When the proposal was first filed, astronomy experts had insisted that the introduction of lighting at the site would be “madness” and NGOs had said it threatened the entire area’s ecology.

In November of 2017 the PA had refused to grant permission to install a canopy, lights and sign and place tables and chairs at the site.

It had found that the proposal would negatively affect an important area and jarred with a Strategic Plan for Environment and Development meant to safeguard and enhance biodiversity.

The list of objectors included the Department of Physics at the University of Malta, Light Pollution Awareness Group, Birdlife Malta, Friends of the Earth Malta and Nature Trust Malta.

Environment Minister Jose Herrera indicated he disagreed with the Tribunal decision and encouraged objectors to appeal "for the best interest of the environment". 

With their PA avenues exhausted, objectors must now file an appeal in the law courts if they are to try and block the development - something they told Times of Malta would cost them a lot of money. 

Malta's Milky Way heritage

Dwejra is designated as a dark sky heritage area according to Mepa’s Gozo and Comino Local Plan, meaning that the installation of lighting that is not related to aerial or maritime navigation should be strongly discouraged.

Before the decision was taken in 2017, a spokesman for the Institute for Astronomy and Space Sciences had noted that Malta was one of only five countries where the possibility of observing the Milky Way from home was precluded to all of their inhabitants.

The other four countries were Singapore, San Marino, Kuwait and Qatar.
For the Astronomical Society of Malta, further development, particularly with regard to lighting at night, was “disastrous”.

According to Front Ħarsien ODZ, the area is a very ecologically sensitive one, given it falls within a Natura 2000 site and a designated special protected area under the Wild Birds Directive.

It is also an important nesting site for the Scopoli’s shearwater and the Yelkouan shearwater, birds which are particularly sensitive to light and noise, the heritage NGO Din l-Art Ħelwa maintains.