The Planning Authority board on Thursday unanimously rejected a proposal for a massive solar farm in Mġarr that would have taken up arable land the size of six football pitches.

The development application, filed by Joseph Schembri of Electrofix Group, proposed the construction and installation of over 5,700 photovoltaic solar panels on the rooftops of 90 greenhouses.

The project, covering an ODZ site 44,500 square metres in an area known as 'Tar-Ragħad', in the limits of Mġarr, also included the construction of seven inverters and a substation.

The proposed project would have taken up virgin land larger than six football grounds. Photo: eapps

The PA was showered with objections to the project not least because of its detriment on the site's environmental features and the Maltese rural landscape, the intrusive visual impact, the existing archaeological features on site and the large volumes of runoff water that will end in the street.

The board heard how the site, with a mix of cultivated agricultural land and abandoned fields, falls within an area that is designated for its archaeological importance and includes the World Heritage Sites of Ta’ Ħaġrat and Skorba.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, along with the Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee, also raised their concern with regards to the negative visual impact of the proposal.

The site falls just outside the area of archaeological importance in Mġarr, but within its buffer zone, which includes archaeological features as Punic, Roman and Troglodytic cave historical heritage. There are catacombs, an agape table and Greek cross, cistern, dolmen, and tombs and a traditional Maltese girna.

Objectors said the proposed development will affect many priceless features of the Maltese rural landscape such as rubble walls, carob trees, garigue land, protected flora and fauna and also bee colonies.

The case officer recommended that the project be refused because it ran counter to the solar farm policy which stipulates that such developments should not be built on areas of archaeological importance and directed towards areas of low landscape sensitivity.

The Planning Board agreed with this recommendation and unanimously voted against the granting of a development permit.

What does the solar farm policy say?

Solar farms should not take up virgin or agricultural land, according to the policy, which prioritises large-scale rooftops, car parks, industrial areas, and quarries.

It also urges against proposals for the development of solar farms in areas where evidence shows that the site, or part of it, was ever registered as agricultural land, garigue, maquis and areas of archaeological, cultural or scientific interest among others.

Meanwhile, the rural policy allows the authorities to consider only “small-scale photovoltaic panels” on greenhouses.