Gozo architect Alex Bigeni on livestock farm development spree

Architect Alex Bigeni, whose name is regularly associated with construction projects linked to Joseph Portelli, has shown up in association with a total of at least five applications to develop livestock farms in ODZ areas in Gozo, with the latest one seeking to develop a sheep farm on a site the size of three football fields in Triq is-Sannat in Xewkija, Gozo.

The application, PA/695/22, filed by applicant Lawrence Cassar, seeks to demolish a small room to build a sheep farm with ancillary facilities on a 16,094sqm ODZ site. The building would be over two floors and over 90m in length, with a beaten earth footpath leading up to it from Triq is-Sannat.

The application to build the sheep farm follows another, similar application from 2016, also filed by the same applicant, Cassar, through Bigeni. The application was withdrawn in 2017. It is not known what the case officer’s verdict on the older application was as it is not available on the Planning Authority’s website – it is unclear why as usually the case officer’s report usually remains available.

The application is the latest in a string of similar applications in Gozo that seek to develop farms for the rearing of animals, often in picturesque, protected areas.

The Shift has already highlighted an application to build a poultry farm in Wied Għasri following complaints from the local council and residents in the area, in particular over the fact that the applicant was not a registered poultry farmer and that the proposed development was incongruous with its rural setting.

Għasri’s local council had, in its objections, flagged at least three similar applications in the same locality, arguing that Għasri was being targeted by a wave of similar developments which are “objectionable in principle”. The Shift was informed of yet another application to build a sheep farm in Għasri, PA/4883/20, also fronted by Bigeni, which is also being opposed.

The status of that application indicates that it is still pending a final decision following an initial recommendation for refusal. Għasri’s local council had also objected to this application, with the Environment and Resources Authority describing it as objectionable due to the “loss of undeveloped land and the proliferation of development onto ODZ land”.

Two of the applications mentioned by the local council, PA/4905/20 and PA/761/21, also feature Bigeni as the architect responsible for the project. The former refers to an application to build a sheep farm in Wied is-Seqer and the latter refers to an application to build a poultry farm in Triq Dun Karm Caruana, both in Għasri.

While the application in Triq Dun Karm Caruana is still awaiting a recommendation from the PA’s case officer, the sheep farm application for Wied is-Seqer was approved following another similar application that was approved despite a recommendation for refusal.