Għaxaq fireworks factory recommended for approval despite farmers’ objections

An application for a brand new fireworks factory on a 9,000 sq.m agricultural site at tal-Ħbula in Ħal-Għaxaq, is being recommended for approval by a Planning Authority case officer.

The application presented by the Tarxien-based Għaqda Tan-Nar San Gabriel has also been given the thumbs-up by an ad hoc technical committee of experts, set up to assess the safety aspects of new fireworks factories.

Back in 2013, a case officer had recommended refusal because it was in breach of the structure plan which banned any urban development in “rural conservation areas”. 

Enemalta had also objected to the proposed fireworks factory in 2013 and in 2017, but dropped its objections after committing itself to remove overhead electricity lines found in the area by the end of this year.

The development is being recommended for approval because a policy approved in 2014 allows new fireworks factories on dry agricultural land if these are granted prior approval by an ad-hoc committee, which includes the Civil Protection Department, police and the army.  In this case, the land is categorised as dry.

Għaxaq already has two fireworks factories: the St Mary’s fireworks factory and the St Joseph fireworks factory.

Originally the technical committee had objected to the new factory, but it now accepted the latest proposals after various changes were made addressing its safety concerns.

The 9,000sq.m site where the factory is being proposed is outside development zones in the limits of Għaxaq and is bordered to the north by a country road and a built-up area to the west approximately 153m away. The factory will be located just 250m away from the Santu Kristu chapel.

The chapel can accommodate over 100 people but is located outside the 183m radius from habitable areas in which new fireworks factories are forbidden. And although a house and some other structures are located in this radius, at law “inhabited places” are defined as aggregations of houses inhabited by over 100 persons.

While acknowledging the “further intensification of development within an ODZ area”, and take-up of “good agricultural land and possibly compromising an Area of High Landscape Value”, the PA case officer concluded that the proposal cannot be located within the development scheme boundary for safety reasons.

The case officer also noted that the existing policy allows fireworks factories in the ODZ unless the area is recognized as an Area of Ecological or Scientific Importance.

The fireworks factory structures are also based on required specific distances between stores, processing rooms and other structures, crfiteria determined by the technical committee.

The PA’s advisory committee on agriculture objected in principle, but since the fireworks factory policy permits factories on dry agricultural land, the committee proposed the imposition of a planning gain to be used for the rehabilitation of agricultural land.

Farmers object to development

But a number of farmers in the area are objecting to the development. “I am a full-time farmer who has invested hundreds of thousands of euros in our farm and in livestock. The proposed fireworks factory is 130m away from this, putting all my investment and hard workmanship at risk,” a formal objection sent by a farmer to the PA states.

“I am concerned about my own safety as well of the infrastructure/machinery that is in place,” said another part-time farmer who works around 10 tumuli of land in the vicinity of the proposed development.

In 2012 the Għaxaq council had objected to the development pointed out that the development abuts farmland worked by both part-time and full-time workers. He also referred to the proposed factory's proximity to the Gudja cemetery, a number of greenhouses and neighbouring businesses, which employ many workers.

But in a meeting held two weeks ago, the PA planning commission agreed to suspend this application for two months and requested the architect to obtain clearance from the Environment Health Directorate.

Fireworks factory extension proposed in Qrendi

A 4,000-sq.m extension is also being proposed for the Independence fireworks factory in Il-Gwejdija, Qrendi.

The area is characterised by agricultural fields and is located 260m away from the protected Il-Maqluba gorge and 100m from a buffer zone for the protected coastal cliffs. As proposed the application envisages the construction of five new workshops, an office, a restroom and four stores for black powder.  It also envisages the restoration of collapsed rubble walls.