1967 ruin paves way for new agricultural store

Ruins appearing on an aerial photo dating back to 1967 have been invoked to justify the construction of a three-metre high 20 square metre agricultural store in Tal-Gholjiet in Gudja. The only remnants of the original building are a pile of rubble.

MEPA is now obliged by a new policy to approve the reconstruction of countryside ruins as agricultural stores and even as residences if it can be proven that these were used as dwellings in the past.  

Other farmers who apply for new stores have to prove that they have a genuine agricultural need for the structures. The policy regulating rural developments stipulates that to develop 20 square metres of storage space, a farmer has to own more than 10 tumoli of land (11,170 square metres).  Farmers applying to re-build ruins are not bound by this policy.

The Environment Protection Directorate had firmly objected to the development approved by MEPA on Wednesday, insisting that the building now in “complete ruins”, was already “some form of ruin” in 1967 and could not be considered as an “existing structure”. The Natural Heritage Advisory Committee was also opposed to the development.

An application presented in 2009 on the same site was refused in 2011 because it failed to abide by policies regulating the approval of stores. The EPD described the latest application as “another attempt to develop a store” on the site.

The case officer report acknowledges that the proposal will not impact positively on the environment and even notes the existence of other structures within the vicinity, which may belong to the same owner.

But the case officer claimed that there was no need to assess whether the applicant had a “genuine” need to reconstruct the long demolished store simply because the application was to reconstruct the original structure.