Following the recent removal of a number of caravans from the foreshore of Gnejna Bay last week, the Malta Environment & Planning Authority (MEPA) continued with its efforts to safeguard public access to the foreshore, through another direct action operation along the public coast at Xemxija, near the Fekruna area.

In Nadur, the Authority removed large quantities of derelict material from a scrapyard that was operating without a permit.

The Authority, for a second time this year, intervened at the illegal scrapyard in Nadur following investigations that the owner defied MEPA orders and started storing other derelict cars and scrap metal. The Authority, last March had already carried out a direct action operation at this site after the owner was served with an enforcement notice. The owner tried appealing this notice both before the Planning Appeals Board and the Court of Appeals, with both appeals being turned down.

The operation at Xemxija, alongside a number of boathouses, spanned over two days. MEPA officials accompanied by ALE police supervised the removal a number of illegal extensions to the existing concrete platforms, paving works, canopies and other protruding structures that were encroaching on the foreshore and restricting public access to the sea. Over the past weeks residents in the area had complained that these illegal structures were impeding their access and use of the coast.

Over the past weeks, MEPA has stepped up its efforts to tackle the long-pending list of enforcement cases that have been referred for direct action. These cases are the result of owners’ deciding not to comply with the fifteen day period, indicated in the enforcement notice, within which they have to remove their illegality and return the site to its original state.

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