The Court of Appeal has revoked a permit for a sheep farm in Għajnsielem, upholding the council’s objections that it was within the 200-metre buffer zone from groundwater extraction sources.
Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti ruled that the Agriculture Advisory Committee had not given its clearance and that the objections of the Environment and Resources Authority had been ignored.
He was ruling on an appeal filed by the Għajnsielem local council against a decision by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal to overturn the PA’s refusal for a sheep farm proposed on pristine agricultural land in an area known as Tat-Torri.
John Vella originally filed the application in June 2019 for structures to be built in the middle of countryside that lies outside the development zone between Triq Qigħan and Triq Qala.
He was seeking permission to build a new sheep farm with a cheese-making area, underlying tank and cesspits and landscaping to screen the structures.
In his report, the case officer noted that the proposed development ran counter to planning policies. It also ran counter to Rural Policy and Design Guidelines in terms of distance from a groundwater source, the proposed layout of the farm and the planned waste management.
The application was refused in July 2022 but this decision was granted on appeal. The same owner had already been granted permits to demolish and rebuild a nearby agricultural room and to add basement storage back in 2018.
The Għajnsielem council, led by Mayor Kevin Cauchi, appealed this decision, expressing its grave concerns about the proposed development.
Through lawyer Claire Bonello, the council complained that the original reasons for refusal were because there were breaches of the Rural Policy as the farm lay within 200 metres of groundwater extraction sources and because the Agricultural Advisory Committee had not given its clearance for the said farm.
The tribunal overturned this refusal, stating that there were similar “commitments” in the vicinity and that only part of the farm lay within the 200-metre groundwater extraction zone.
The Court of Appeal ruled that the commitments cited by the tribunal were not of the same type or locality and had not been issued under the same legal regime. Moreover, the Rural Policy requirement to maintain the 200-metre buffer zone was an obligatory one and could not be waived at the tribunal’s discretion.
The chief justice also observed how the tribunal had not ordered the applicant to file new plans, which would then be considered by the Planning Authority again but had reversed the decision with a proviso that fresh plans be filed.
He also noted that the tribunal did not even mention ERA’s objections to the project. The permit was therefore revoked, confirming the PA’s original refusal of the application.