This week, the Court of Appeal revoked a permit for an Ghajnsielem sheep farm which was proposed in the countryside between Qala Road and Qig?an Street, following an appeal filed by the Ghajnsielem Local Council.

The Council said that through its Lawyer Dr Claire Bonello, the Local Council had filed an appeal on the decision of the Environment Planning Review Tribunal, which had overturned the Planning Authority’s original refusal to issue a permit for the sheep farm.

The original reasons for the Planning Authority’s refusal of the application were based on the fact that there were breaches of the Rural Policy as the farm lay within 200 metres of groundwater extraction sources and because the Agricultural Advisory Committee had not given its clearance for the said farm.However, the Tribunal overturned this refusal stating that there were “similar commitments” in the vicinity and that “only part of the farm lay within the 200 metre groundwater extraction zone.”

The G?ajnsielem Local Council appealed from this decision. The Court of Appeal ruled that the commitments cited by the Tribunal “were not of the same type, locality or issued under the same legal regime.”

Moreover, it said that “the Rural Policy requirement to maintain the 200 metre buffer zone was an obligatory one and could not be waived at the Tribunal’s discretion,” and so the permit was revoked.

Photos: Ghajnsielem Local Council

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