Tal-Wej gets green light as special area of conservation after tribunal decision

The Environment and Resources Authority has welcomed a ruling by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) confirming the authority’s 2019 decision to designate Tal-Wej as a Special Area of Conservation of both national and international Importance. 

Covering an area of 203,484 square metres within the limits of Mosta and Naxxar, Tal-Wej was designated a Natura 2000 protected site by the ERA in 2019. Yet a number of landowners objected to the decision.

The Planning Authority’s planning tribunal yesterday confirmed the importance of protecting the site in its entirety, as part of the European Natura 2000 ecological network.

Tal-Wej is characterised by temporary freshwater rockpools that form in outcrops of the Lower Coralline Limestone. These freshwater rockpool habitats are locally scarce due to their temporary nature, small size and limited distribution. They host flora such as the Maltese Waterwort, the Maltese Horned Pondweed, and fauna such as the Tadpole Shrimp and the Painted Frog. Additionally, the area also hosts garrigue and grassland habitats.

The area is also listed as a Class A archaeological site, forming part of a wider cultural landscape that includes cart-ruts, dolmens, ancient quarries, rock-cut tombs, corbelled huts and a 16th century chapel dedicated to Santa Margherita.

Three landowners, namely Joseph Camilleri, former PN minister Louis Deguara and Leonard Vella, had filed an appeal against the designation, claiming they were denied a right of fair hearing when the ERA designated the area as a Natura 2000 site in September. In three separate appeals presented by lawyer and government consultant Robert Musumeci, the owners contend that they were not granted full access to information, including the “economic, social, cultural and policy considerations” made when the site was selected.

Musumeci claimed that the owners could not defend themselves “because they had no clue about the grounds on which the Authority based its decisions.”

The ERA quoted a landmark judgement in the European Court of Justice which states that a member state may not take account of economic, social and cultural requirements or regional and local characteristics, when selecting and defining the boundaries of Natura 2000 sites on the basis of scientific criteria.

It said all landowners had been informed of the designation of the site through a letter sent in July 2020, and that all landowners had a chance to contest this decision in public hearing held in September when it had provided the scientific grounds of its decision.