A bid by a number of NGOs and property owners to stop the building of a telecommunications hub in Dwejra failed as a judge felt they failed to prove they merited protection.

Flimkien ghal Ambjent Aħjar, Ramblers’ Association (Malta), Birdlife Malta, Nature Trust (Malta), Friends of the Earth Malta, the Malta Organic Agricultural Movement, the Rabat local council and a number of property owners asked the court to stop the planning authority from granting a full development permission.

The proposal was for a 30-metre high communications tower at one end of the site and the use of an existing room at the other end, with three transmitting rooms, a small toilet and a generator room.

Mr Justice Joseph Micallef, sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court, heard that an application for the telecommunications hub was filed in 2006.

Mepa had issued the permit in June 2013 subject to various conditions including the reaching of an agreement with the Malta Communications Authority. The agreement materialised in November.

The judge decided the complainants had failed to prove that they had a prima facie right that merited protection or that they would suffer irremediable harm.

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