A two-storey mushroom farm in Xewkija was approved by a planning commission despite a recommendation to turn it down.

The project had been recommended for refusal on grounds that it constituted “bad neighbour development”, conflicting with planning policies, according to the case report.

The permit includes a new mushroom farm with a cultivation unit on the ground floor, covering 550 square metres, and a manure clamp. The upper level will have a second cultivation unit with a site area of about 415 square metres. There will also be a fuel tank on the roof.

The site is located between two public roads in an outside development scheme. It is located 90 metres from the Xewkija rationalised scheme development boundary.

The case officer noted that although the site was within an area classified as an intensive agricultural zone, it was also about 90 metres away from the Xewkija residential scheme and a minimum buffer of 183 metres was being adopted for such permits, including livestock farms, because these were likely to have a “deleterious impact” on existing or planning adjacent uses.

A previous request to build a sheep farm on the site had been refused because of its proximity to the residential scheme and the “excessive massing of the farm”.

The planning commission was split when it came to voting on the permit and the chairman used the casting vote to approve it.

The justification for granting the permit, according to the minutes, was “there is no bad neighbourliness, i.e. no infringement due to the commitments of the area”.

The National Heritage Advisory Committee had recommended refusal, arguing that the Xewkija farm would have a negative impact on the surrounding landscape, especially for Mġarr ix-Xini, even after a set of fresh plans were submitted.

It pointed out that, since mushrooms could be grown underground, such farms could be located there.

Meanwhile, the Planning Directorate Advisory Team said mushroom farms had been located in outside development areas but, because “of the impacts generated, the distance for animal farms should be applicable”, including the minimum distance of 183 metres.