Tuesday, 26th August 2008 - 15:36CET
Proposed cow farm will be next to houses - FAA
MEPA will tomorrow be considering an application for a new cow farm on arable land right next to residential homes in Maghtab even while nearby disused farms are being converted to warehouses, Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA) complained today.
The environment NGO said the MEPA case officer who assessed the application was recommending the granting of a development permit.
“This comes as no surprise as only last April, MEPA granted another outline development permit for the construction of a pig farm on another 5,000m2 of fresh arable agricultural land very close to this proposed development,” the FAA said.
“All this is happening when just across the alley from this proposed development, an application is pending for the construction of warehousing facilities (PA 06929/07) in a long abandoned farming structure that occupies circa 18,000m2 of land. Other farmhouses in the vicinity are also being converted and used for other purposes, such as the storage of building construction material and machinery.”
The NGO said MEPA’s recent “State of the Environment Report” clearly stated that greater emphasis had to be placed on the protection of the rural environment.
“The taking up of more agricultural land for development does not augur well for the future,” the FAA said.
“In spite of the huge negative visual and physical impact these large cowsheds will have, being situated on Triq is-Salina on the way to Naxxar, a very busy road widely used by both Maltese and tourists, the Case Officer completely ignored Policy 1.3A (Policy and Design Guidance, Agriculture, Farm Diversification and Stables) which seeks to preserve rural character and landscape” the organisation added.
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Good point, Joseph. Farms are to be found in "rural areas" and whoever moved to Maghtab with all those farms around knew where he was going to. Or was land bought cheap because of the presence of farms??
The Maghtab residents have had it for quite some time now!
When are the authorities going to take a stand and consider that in Maghtab there are people living also.
Thank you Astrid for taking this stand, all the people of Maghtab appreciate your difficult mission in combatting these injustices.
Why is it that in Malta, animals have more rights than humans?
What happened to the proposal of centralizing these cowfarms in a specified area, far from residential abodes, in the vicinity of Dar tal-Providenza in Siggiewi?
Aren't the authorities realizing the fact that some of these permits are a pretext for a future "change of use"?
Astrid, keep up the good work and the people of Maghtab thank you from the bottom of their heart.
With this proposed farm, there will be more animals for slaughter just to satisfy human consumption.
"...which seeks to preserve rural character and landscape..."
-Why wasn't this stated when the villas were built, aren't animals/farms part of rural character?
Do some people don't know what rural means?
"Rural: Pertaining to the area outside larger and moderate-sized cities and surrounding population concentrations, generally characterized by [farms], [ranches], small towns, and unpopulated regions."- taken from a real estate dictionary.
Lets talk serious and not whatever MEPA does is seen bad.
HOWEVER IF YOU BUY A COUNTRY PROPERTY YOU KNOW THE RISKS AND IF A FARM IS BUILD IT IS HARD LUCK