Mepa, FAA clash over Wardija broiler unit

The planning authority has denied a claim by Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar that it had approved an industrial chicken broiler unit in Wardija.

It said the permit in question only approved the change of use of an existing building to a manure clamp and the addition of two cesspits, holding tank and water reservoir to an existing broiler farm.

A request in the application for the sanctioning of two illegally developed structures servicing the existing farm was refused and their demolition ordered as a condition to the permit.

Mepa said it also ordered a revised landscaping scheme to mitigate the impact that the existing farm may have on the visual amenity.

The authority said the Department of Agriculture had confirmed in the course of the proceedings that the applicant has been registered with it and at the same location since 1988. Aerial photos taken in 1988 and 1994 identified the main structures of the broiler farm.

“The impression given by the FAA, that Mepa recently approved an industrial chicken broiler unit for 14,000 chickens, when such farm already existed, is therefore totally false and incorrect.”

Furthermore, an investigation was carried out by the Audit Officer Perit Joseph Falzon as in terms of Section 17C of the Development Planning Act concluded that the proper procedures as established by law were adopted in the assessment of this development application.

FAA reacted by saying that while the permit was related to the erection of a manure clamp, cesspits and the sanctioning of a hut, the contested issue was the legality of the broiler unit itself, which the applicants did not seek to sanction, claiming it was in place in 1988 and therefore did not need a permit.

The FAA claimed that the Mepa aerial photos did not show any such building on this site in 1988 but still, the Environment and Planning Commission accepted a certificate that it had existed, and granted the permit for the manure clamp and cesspits which made it possible for the broiler unit to continue to operate. Without the manure clamp and cesspits the chicken farm would not have been viable.

“FAA cannot understand how the EPC could request an assessment of the landscaping scheme and ask the Environment Protection Directorate to assess the survey of hydrology and watercourse related ecology after approving this permit in a Natura 2000 site,” the NGO added.

It also noted comments made by hydrologist Marco Cremona that at the time of its construction, the broiler farm intercepted a natural watercourse.