A flurry of applications for chicken and sheep farms on ODZ land in Għasri is threatening to turn a scenic area into a stretch of “garages” which would later be open for further development, according to mayor Daniel Attard.
The local council of the Gozitan village has filed objections to four proposals for such farms and has spent the last year-and-a-half fighting off others along an unnamed road that leads off from Triq Dun Karm Caruana, at the village entrance.
“The area being targeted for these developments is beautiful – it’s about a kilometre of open green that takes you to Dwejra and to Ta’ Pinu. It’s one of the few areas in Gozo that is untouched and it’s going to be ruined,” Attard said.
“The issue is that once one farm slips through, it sets a precedent for others to do the same,” he said.
It’s one of the few areas in Gozo that is untouched and it’s going to be ruined
“Even though building a new farm on ODZ land runs against the policy protecting the area, people are using a clause in the law to say if there is already a farm there, I have the right to build another one,” he continued.
To add insult to injury, over the last few years, Attard said the council had stopped receiving notifications of proposed developments from the Planning Authority like it used to, which meant they ran the risk of applications of these kind slipping past them.
“Before, in a matter of five minutes we used to know exactly what applications had been submitted. Now we have to go hunting for them one by one – how is the council with its limited resources meant to sustain this?”
Attard expressed concern about the purpose of these farms, especially since farming is no longer such a profitable business.
“The fear is also that many of them are not genuine farms and once they build a structure, it is easy for them to apply for extensions to continue developing,” he said.
Some of the applications are for locations designated as ‘areas of ecological importance’ which are, in principle, considered inappropriate for new livestock farms unless the site is not compromised.
Echoing the mayor’s suspicions, Din L-Art Ħelwa has called for the public to object to the latest proposed chicken farm in the area in question.
Apart from ruining the land, the application was lodged by a person who wasn’t even registered with the Veterinary Directorate, the NGO said.
“In view that the applicant and site are not registered with the Agriculture Directorate, and the applicant is not registered with the VRD, this planning application is deemed objectionable, raising concerns about the scope behind such an application,” it said.
The NGO also underlined that the proposal for the 540sqm chicken farm on arable, ODZ land goes against policies safeguarding ODZ land, as well as running counter to the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development. The plan regulates the sustainable use and management of land and sea resources.
The current pending applications for new livestock farms or extensions to existing ones in the area are: PA00887/20, PA04883/20, PA00761/21, PA00761/21.