I refer to Brian Vella's letter (The Sunday Times, November 8). Forty years ago San Ġwann, then called Msieraħ, was a regularly inhabited village, on the verge of expansion, hence the Vella brothers were already irritating the public when they were compelled to move their farm out to the countryside.

This is how Mepa described the Vellas' migration to the Wied Għomor area in a letter dated November 5, 2003, reference ECC39787:

"Investigations revealed that various structures situated within the farm boundaries were illegally constructed during the years. Investigations have gone back to 1967 and all structures erected after this period without the necessary building permits were reported.

"Enforcement action is now taken against the Vella brothers for possessing unauthorised land, and enforcement notices in terms of the Development Planning Act were issued in ECF549/03. This team will continue to follow up action taken until all enforcement procedures are concluded according to law."

When I built the five-storey block of apartments, legally the Vellas had already created a travesty of a 'farm' consisting of sheds mostly built of dry rubble walls 'roofed' over with rusted corrugated sheeting, plus uncovered paddock-like enclosures, sprawled over an area measuring about 11,000 square metres. If, in Mr Vella's opinion, the apartments are an eyesore, at least they occupy just 300 square metres and not 11,000, as the photo shows.

Mr Vella should indicate which are my "false allegations and twisted facts" in my previous letter. He boasts that today they are producing "very high quality milk". So what was the quality of milk they sold before their upgrading?

Naturally, the Vellas would not be disturbed or bothered by the acrid stench and the fly infestation generated at their farm, because they have lived all their life in such an environment.

In civilised villages abroad, farms are completely integrated with their owners' houses, without the least inconvenience. But then the Vella brothers' families do not inhabit their farm; they all live away from it. The apartments referred to happen to be halfway between these villas and the farm, a distance which makes all the difference, regarding the stench and the fly infestation.

I do not have the credentials to verify whether the farm has been upgraded in accordance with specifications and standards laid down by the authorities concerned. However, they should invite Henry Grixti, principal health inspector of the Department of Public Health, East region, together with Mepa's competent authorities that are probably both responsible for conducting an "environmental risk assessment" following the farm's upgrading.

I am sure Mr Grixti would take up Mr Vella's invitation, because he is very much aware that flies are carriers of serious diseases, and besides the complaining nearby families, there is now a new school in the proximity of the farm.

If the Vellas do not have a solution to the problems that the farm's upgrading has severely compounded, then the objection I made to Mepa in 2003 was justified, and the authorities that provided the specifications on which the upgrading had to be carried out were incompetent, which is very unlikely, as I have great respect for Mepa's capabilities.

The authorities concerned must be duty bound to check what went wrong in the whole process of upgrading.

Mr Vella should also say whether the €1 million he said they spent on the farm's upgrading were lent or donated by the EU, because if so, the hundreds of complaining citizens living in the area will consider referring their miseries to Brussels.