Birżebbuġa council concerned over Ħal Far airstrip impact on environment

The Birżebbuġa council has expressed concern over the impact a model aircraft airstrip could have on the environment and cultural heritage of a site off Wied Żnuber.

On Sunday, a group of farmers raised the alarm with Times of Malta over plans to relocate the airstrip to a site in Ħal Far that is close to a Natura 2000 site.

The area, which includes swaths of garigue and rural land, is situated between a strip of factories and cliffs home to colonies of shearwaters and seagulls. It is right next to a Natura 2000 site that falls under the protection of the EU’s birds and habitats directives.

While Natura 2000 emphasises the protection of habitats for endangered and migratory species, the habitats directive ensures the conservation of rare, threatened or endemic animal and plant species.

The area, which hosts the scheduled Wied Żnuber Dolmen, is marked as "industrial" in the South Malta Local Plan.

But on Tuesday, the Birżebbuġa council warned that this did not automatically mean the area could be developed.

"Over the past days, the local council has contacted the authorities to collect the necessary information about the plans [for relocation of the air strip]," it said in a...