A pig farm in Żebbuġ could be set for demolition to make way for four new houses… in Bidnija. 

An unusual development application currently being assessed by the Planning Authority proposes the conversion of the Żebbuġ farm site back to agricultural fields, in exchange for permission to build four residences on a 4,000-square-metre site outside development zone in Bidnija. 

When the plans were first submitted, the application proposed the four houses “as compensation” for the removal of the farm. But the wording was later changed, with the application now seeking permission “to relocate the footprint of a legally established building” from Żebbuġ to Bidnija.

Close to 80 objections to the proposal have already been submitted, most calling for the protection of the ODZ land, which is opposite a row of existing houses and which includes four mature carob trees.  Objectors – which include eNGOs Nature Trust, Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar and Front Ħarsien ODZ – have also warned that the application would “set a dangerous precedent for further dubious ODZ land swaps”.

Read: An unusual barter proposal

“There is absolutely no policy, law or regulation allowing for this odd ‘barter’ and hence such an application may not even be considered,” Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar said.

“To do so would mean that the PA would be acting ultra vires and completely beyond its remit. How can the PA choose at its own subjective and unregulated discretion which applications can be fudged together with absolutely no law regulating this? This is beyond legal and planning heresy.”

Nature Trust, meanwhile, said the residences in themselves would violate planning policy provisions which aim for the protection and enhancement of the rural landscape and its important features.

The Environment and Resources Authority has not yet commented on the proposal but said it would do so before the close of public consultation on Friday.