Magħtab residents incensed by go-ahead to new cow farm

Magħtab residents have expressed disappointment at the planning authority’s approval of a large new cow farm bang in the centre of the locality.

The 4,500-square-metre farm would be built on new agricultural land when the locality was “literally littered” with abandoned farms and others that were not in line with regulations, or “used for purposes other than that permitted”, the Magħtab Residents Association said.

The permit was approved yesterday by the planning authority’s Environment and Planning Commission.

The residents said the cow farm would include a manure pit with a footprint of 110 square metres and a cesspit with a 15-day storage capacity of concentrated animal slurry.

The residents had been complaining about the application for a number of years and, in 2009, four families had filed two judicial protests against the developers of a cow farm and a pig farm.

The families had said the hamlet of Magħtab was considered an “inhabited area” by the local plans and that granting permits to the two farms would put the lives of the residents in danger and deprive them of the enjoyment of their homes.

The residents association presented the Environment and Planning Commission with a health impact assessment drawn up by medical and public health experts. The assessment report confirmed the negative impact these projects would have on the neighbourhood, it said. Among other things, the report said there was “no doubt that allowing a farm in the immediate proximity of several residences goes against the spirit of the regulatory policy to ensure safety when planning such farms”.

“We feel that this is a great injustice to the Magħtab residents and it seems that even a reform in our planning system was not enough to instil some common sense into the planning authority,” the association said.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority said later the permit issued was in accordance with all planning policies and regulations. The site in question, it added, was within an area that had, for the past 50 years, been predominantly committed for the operation of numerous livestock farms. The Magħtab area was also characterised by many stables and intensive agriculture related establishments.

The application for the dairy farm was backed by the clearance and no objection of all the competent authorities normally consulted during the processing of similar development proposals, Mepa said, also noting that ­Koperattiva Produtturi Ħalib explained during the public hearing that the approved dairy farm would be built according to the Code of Good Agricultural Practices.

“Residential units within the Magħtab area are mostly agricultural buildings converted for habitation and are sparsely spread among the existing operational farms,” Mepa said.