The Mepa board this afternoon approved an outline application for a massive collective farm composed of 12 farms holding no less than 666 milking cows.

The board sitting was characterised by steadfast opposition to the application from Dar tal-Providenza and the Siggiewi local council.

The idea, which has been in gestation for the past 6 years, is to prize away cattle farms from sites that are either historical or close to residential areas. Originally, 17 farms were to be thus relocated but then problems arose with regards of the chosen site and the site that was chosen, near San Niklaw or Tal-Qampiena area outside Siggiewi can hold only 12 such farms.

The list of the farms that will be relocated includes cow farms in the Cottonera bastions, a cow farm inside a fortress, and farms that today are too near to residences in places like Fgura, Ghaxaq, etc. Many are illegal and to grow they need to conform to EU rules, which is not possible in the site where they are now. The only way for them to grow is to move out of their present site.

(Dar tal-Providenza)

A site selection exercise was carried out and sites such as Fort Campbell, Ix-Xaghra tal-Marfa, Xrobb l-Ghagin etc were considered but none proved to be better than this site at San Niklaw.

San Niklaw is the area where there was a World War II runway, together with Nissen huts and other buildings. When it was considered this is all a precious heritage – the site has the only underground control tower in Malta – the plans were shifted so that the site for the farm now does not impinge on the San Niklaw aerodrome but leaves it free to be fully restored.

The plan is to have 12 individual farms, of varying dimensions, according to the number of cows they have. The cows would be resting on concrete and their waste would fall into channels and be scraped away twice daily, whereas today they tend to be scraped once a year. The waste is then channelled into what is called a biodigester where under closed conditions it produces electricity and later it is turned into second class water.

The entire farm will be insulated from the ground so that no water run-off gets into the nearby Wied tal-Maghuq and thence to the sea or leaks to the water table.

The five farms which have been kept out of the scheme will still send their waste to San Niklaw to be processed, using secondary roads, away from the Siggiewi Bypass.

But Siggiewi mayor Karol Aquilina was having none of this. He argued the massive farm would massively increase odours around, especially to the 100 patients and 400 workers at the Dar tal-Providenza which is only 500m away.

Dr Aquilina also complained about the visual impact of the farm, especially if its roofs will have a PV installation especially when seen from Is-Salib tal-Gholja.

The area is already degraded with the presence of other farms, especially a poultry farm (Buxom Chick). Maybe one of the other sites could have been better.

Fr Martin Micallef, the director of Dar tal-Providenza added that the house is already facing multiple environmental challenges, such as dust from quarries, and even from the existing farm.

To this, later on, board member Timmy Gambin said that being in the countryside Dar tal-Providenza gets the benefits but also the problems of being in the countgryside.

When the issue was being discussed by the board, it turned out that although this is a Department of Agriculture application and it is only at outline stage, the department does not have a binding agreement with the farms in historic buildings etc they are ready to move out when the time comes. Ryan Callus, MP, insisted that unless this is done, the farm may lose sight of its original intentions and be allocated to other people.

Later, when the vote was taken, it was only Mr Callus who voted against.

Perit Robinich for the department said that unless the department had an outline permit, it could not bind the future clients to move out. On the other hand, if they do not move out, they risk being closed down by the government because they would be infringing European directives.

Dr Aquilina claimed that last January, Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes told him in a private conversation the biodigester would not be installed.

In conclusion , the Mepa board, while approving the application, and while allowing two years validity to the outline permit, insisted that the department must enter into a binding contract with the owners of the farms and submit one collective application for a full development permit rather than so many separate applications.

A bank guarantee of €120.000 will be asked (quite rare in the case of an outline application) but a Ryan Callus motion of an additional planning gain was not supported and a counter-motion that the board may ask for a planning gain saw members divide equally with the chairman casting the casting vote.

Dr Aquilina at last tried hard to get the eventual planning gain for the benefit of the road but he was instantly and vociferously reprimanded by the various members of the board who told him Mepa is not into building roads. Timmy Gambin also pointed out that the road outside Dar tal-Providenza has been made much worse due to trucks from the quarries and he suggested that the Dar seeks remedy there.