Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1024340
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 SEPTEMBER 2018 NEWS MINISTRY FOR HEALTH PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIAT FOR EUROPEAN FUNDS AND SOCIAL DIALOGUE PUBLIC HEALTH IS YOUR GUARANTEE. TAKE PART. NATIONAL SURVEY ON THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH PROJECT PART-FINANCED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION THE NGO Nature Trust is objecting to a planning ap- plication by the owner of a pig farm that was illegally developed, to be granted permits for four villas for having it demolished. The owner is requesting that the Planning Author- ity approve the construc- tion of four new villas with swimming pools, outside development zones in Bid- nija in exchange for the demolition of an unsightly pig farm in the Baqqiegha valley in Zebbug. The application also pro- poses restoring the land currently occupied by the pig farm to return it to ter- raced arable farming. But Nature Trust reacted to the application, ques- tioning how a pig farm developed outside the building zones, could be replaced by another ODZ development in another village. "How can a pig farm in ODZ be replaced by resi- dences in ODZ in another village?" the NGO told the PA. Noting that the land earmarked for the villas consists "of agriculture land with beautiful rub- ble walls", Nature Trust proposed that the owner of the pig farm earmarked for demolition should be financially compensated "at ODZ price" – that is, the present value of the site according to its present de- velopment potential. An illegally developed store on the first floor of the pig farm was only ap- proved by the PA in Janu- ary 2010 – 13 years after the PA had issued an en- forcement order against it. Luqa residents fear valley pocket will turn into industrial zone JAMES DEBONO LUQA residents are prepar- ing to mount a campaign against a massive warehouse project that will replace an unsightly livestock farm on their doorstep, at the mouth of Wied il-Kbir. The farm lies just off Luqa Road, but the area forms part of a valley protection zone in Hal Farrug, and is also desig- nated as an 'area of high land- scape value'. Now it is being earmarked for a two-storey warehouse complex, while a disused quarry which now forms part of the Wied il-Kbir aesthetic, will be turned into a 5,000 sq.m. car park roofed by solar panels. The entire site is outside development zones, but the owners want to turn the area into a complex for 24 ware- houses constructed over 3,564sq.m of land presently occupied by the farm. Residents fear the proposed development will result in the creation of an industrial estate located between the residential area and the val- ley, which would also attract more traffic to the site. The NGO Moviment Graf- fiti will be launching an on- line campaign through which citizens will be able to send their objections directly to the Planning Authority. Graffiti warned that the project will introduce indus- trial activity in a rural area, noting that no such activity is presently allowed between the site of the farm and the valley. The PA's own rural policy approved in 2014 does not envisage the conversion of rural buildings into industrial ones. Pig farmer seeks 'ODZ barter deal' to build Bidnija villas Disused quarry and livestock farm to be turned into mega-warehouse complex Residents fear the proposed development will result in the creation of an industrial estate located between the residential area and the valley, which would also attract more traffic to the site