The Compliance and Enforcement Directorate within the Planning Authority (PA) said that over the past weeks it has managed to close off a number of illegal development cases across the Islands, including two in Gozo.

The illegalities ranged from built-up rooms in ODZ areas, the placing of cabins and other structures, and the dumping of construction waste and scrap material.In Gozo, at a site in Triq l-Gharb, Ghasri, and in Triq Ta’ Sannat, Xewkija, illegal structures, one which included a large make-shift room on top of a concrete platform and a structure which were used as cages for animals, were demolished and the sites returned back to their original state.

The other cases were in Malta:

In the archaeologically sensitive area of Ghar il-Kbir, limits of Siggiewi, a stretch of land with prehistoric cart ruts was re-exposed and returned back to its original state after an illegal concrete passageway was constructed.

Works carried out were in line with a Restoration Method Statement approved by the PA in consultation with the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH) and the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA). The removal process was supervised by a monitor approved by the SCH and engaged at the expense of the contravener.

A number of rooms that were built without planning permission in ODZ areas, namely off Triq Wied ta’ San Martin in Attard, off Triq Il-Fortizza Ta’ Benghajsa in Birzebbuga, and in an area known as Ta’ Rehba on a site adjacent to the large Dingli reservoir were all demolished and the sites were returned back for agricultural purposes.

In Mgarr, three sites were cleared from the illegal development they contained. At a site in Sqaq Randun, a room and other adjoining structures which were built on site without any development permission, were demolished and removed.

At a field in Triq l-Armagg and in Zebbiegh, two cabin structures which were placed without permission were removed, while at a site at Wied Tal- Imsielet, the contravener complied with the instructions given by enforcement officers to clear the illegal dumped construction material and other waste.

In Birzebbuga, in Triq Hal Far and Triq Kalafrana, a field which started being used as a boatyard, and a field where construction material and other waste had illegally been dumped respectively, were completely cleared.

Similarly, at a site in Ghajn Tuffieha in Mellieha, oil tanks and other scrap material which were being stored without permission were removed by the contravener upon enforcement officers’ orders.

Thomas Paris, newly appointed Deputy Director for the Compliance & Enforcement Directorate at the PA, noted that “the enforcement function of the PA is never easy. Our officers have to deal with different and wide-ranging situations and people. Over the past years, we have upskilled our officers to make better use of the ‘art of persuasion’ in convincing contraveners to remedy the situation themselves to close off illegal development cases. Taking direct action by hiring sub- contractors’ machinery to demolish or remove illegal development is our last resort since it is very costly to the PA and the contravener. When contraveners take action themselves to remove illegal development, it is a win-win situation.”

He added “that last year, where illegal developments were identified from complaints, the PA closed off 47% of the cases through persuasion.”

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