Container saga may end today

The saga of the container dumped on privately-owned scheduled land at Ta' Wied Siekel, in Fontana, will hopefully end today when the last hurdle before direct action can be taken by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority is removed.

The person who placed the container on the site in question has appealed against the enforcement order issued by Mepa and the authority will today be deciding on the appeal.

The container lay at the site for some two years but Mepa could not take action because, following the enforcement order, the owner obtained a court injunction against the execution of the enforcement order.

He was fined Lm25 by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera for violating private property. He appealed but lost the case.

Towards the end of September 2005, Mepa was preparing to carry out direct action but the owner successfully obtained a court injunction to stop the action.

A Mepa spokesman said yesterday that following the court proceedings, the case has been submitted to its Direct Action Team for direct action.

However, direct action awaits the decision of the Planning Appeals Board which will hear the appeal on the enforcement order today, the spokesman added. The board is independent of Mepa.

The container owner has also been served with an enforcement notice for building a structure nearby and which also lies in a scheduled area.

The Mepa spokesman said an appeal was also pending over the illegal structure after the owner unsuccessfully submitted an application to sanction an unauthorised development.