Residents of an area known as Tat-Torri in Għajnsielem have filed a petition against a sheep farm proposed on pristine agricultural land.

The petition was presented to the Environmental Planning Review Tribunal during the hearing of an appeal filed by the applicant, John Vella, against the Planning Authority’s decision to turn down his application.

The application was filed 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. The application was refused in July last year but the applicant appealed.

The same owner has already been granted permits to demolish and rebuild a nearby agricultural room and to add basement storage back in 2018.

Vella is now 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.

Għajnsielem mayor Kevin Cauchi told Times of Malta that the council and the locality’s residents had grave concerns about the proposed development and had filed objections.

The petition was recently presented to the council, which appointed lawyer Claire Bonello to represent it and residents during the appeal. The residents referred to two other applications for similar sheep farms filed for other sites along the same road.

Another application had been greenlighted by the Planning Authority even though it was less than 200 feet away from the historic chapel of St Cecilia.

Moreover, an application for a massive solar farm along the same stretch was turned down by the PA and was now at appeal stage.