Planning Authority orders owners to stop dumping material in two Gozo fields

● TMI informed PA after being alerted to the dumping by readers

The dumping of material at two agricultural sites in Gozo was stopped by the Planning Authority yesterday after readers contacted The Malta Independent, which then reached out to the PA with the information.

A reader who was part of a group hiking up the tas-Salvatur Hill, near Marsalforn in Gozo, sent us a number of pictures showing truckloads of what looked like construction waste being dumped all over a field situated just below the hill. The reader said trucks just kept coming and going, each tipping their load onto the soil, which had almost been entirely covered by late morning.

A short while later the reader witnessed something similar happening in a field that is located between the Xagħra cemetery and Victoria. A quick search on the Planning Authority’s map server showed that there were no planning applications for the sites in question.

This newsroom informed the Planning Authority about the apparent dumping and inspectors were immediately sent to conduct on-site inspections and to check whether there were any valid permits allowing such action.

A PA spokesperson later said that the material being dumped onto the fields was a type of soil known as ‘bajjad.’

The PA said ‘il-bajjad’ material (which is a type of soil) was being dumped on existing soil. “The Authority informed the respective owners that the placing of this type of material still required development permission. Works were ordered to stopped and for respective development applications to be submitted to the authority within seven days. Further action will be taken if no applications are submitted.”