Five environment NGOs have come together to express their frustration at the planning authority’s approval of an application for a cow farm in Magħtab, saying it had “failed miserably” on this project.

Granting this permit indicated that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority “is ignoring its very own policies and once again is giving priority to economic activity instead to human life and biodiversity”, the organisations said in a joint statement.

The NGOs are Ramblers Association, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Malta Organic Agriculture Movement, Friends of the Earth (Malta) and Gaia. They were joined by the Magħtab Residents Association.

This project, they pointed out, would take up 4,600 square metres of fresh agricultural land and was located next to a number of residences forming part of the Magħtab rural settlement, classified by Mepa as a Category II Settlement.

The NGOs said that in an effort to justify its outrageous actions without contradicting its previous decision to grant the 2008 outline permit for this farm, Mepa disempowered affected residents with the absurd claim that the “residential units within the Magħtab area are mostly agricultural buildings converted for habitation and are sparsely spread among the existing operational farms”.

“This statement is not only incorrect but it ignores the fact that the Magħtab population counts no less than 230 residents, with eight of the families living within a distance of less than 70 metres from the development,” they said.

They maintained that given the abundance of abandoned farms, such operations should be accommodated on these disturbed sites, leaving field sites for the cultivation of agricultural products.

This would not only respect the regulations but also serve to distance existing residences from the proven risks of contamination from industrial farms.