Protection of the environment must take precedence over development, a number of environment NGOs said in their response to the planning authority’s outside development zone review objectives.

Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar, Friends of the Earth, Malta Organic Agriculture Movement and Ramblers’ Associations said in a statement that structures like supermarkets, schools and homes for the elderly built in ODZ areas, should be kept within the urban envelope where buildings were available.

The organisations called for the incorporation of policies relating to ODZ areas and agricultural activities, local plan policies on the protection of areas of agricultural value, as well as the soil classification exercise that was never completed and ratified.

They said they supported measures to assist genuine farmers, who were all too often in the past refused permits for essential structures while permits for villas, discos and wedding halls were issued instead. 

They said that the the Farm Diversification and Stables Document created a loophole by which any  agricultural structure could  apply for a change of use, increasing non-agricultural buildings in the countryside. 

The NGOs noted that boreholes were still not metered. They urged the authorities to carry out every effort to redirect good-quality waste water, which is presently being disposed of in the sea.

“While quarries continue to blight our countryside, the price of stone remains cheap and wastage is rife,” they said as they called for the expansion of quarries to be curbed and the efficient use of extractive resources to be encouraged.