Mepa does not want ‘another Armier’

To avoid “another Armier”, illegal development has to be fought by hefty fines and effective enforcement to deny perpetrators the right to enjoy the fruit of their actions, according to the chairman of the planning authority.

Austin Walker – speaking at a briefing session during which the Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s new Enforcement Directorate was introduced to the media – cited the boat house village in Armier, where people usurped public land, as an example of illegality.

The Armier problem has dragged on for decades and consecutive government administrations have sought to appease boathouse owners and reach some sort of arrangement to regulate the illegal development that mushroomed in the area.

“Illegality is almost second nature to many people and to avoid having another Armier on our hands we have to hit hard,” Mr Walker said, adding that hefty daily fines and higher sanctioning fees for illegal development were necessary to avoid situations where people built first and sought permits afterwards.

The Mepa reform last year provided for the creation of a new enforcement directorate to give the authority more clout when cracking down on illegal development and in its work to ensure applicants comply with permit conditions.

Architect Alex Borg, who was recently appointed to head the enforcement directorate, said the unit had to be effective.

“Illegal development should be removed or prevented from happening and we have to be effective in sending the message that it does not pay to break the law,” Mr Borg said.

Last year Mepa issued around 700 enforcement orders on illegal development. In some 200 cases the contravention was removed by the contravener without the authority having to resort to direct action.

Mr Borg said the authority wanted to achieve higher levels of compliance by applicants and pointed out that in some cases people had become more cautious.

“There were some 200 cases of illegal developments where contraveners removed the illegality even before Mepa issued an enforcement notice,” he said.

The new Mepa law stipulates daily fines ranging from €2 to €50 for the duration of illegal development and a substantially higher fee if the contravener asks for the development to be sanctioned. In some cases, such as outside development zones, the law rules out sanctioning.

The new planning process has reduced the number of reconsiderations that can be demanded by applicants to one and only on conditions linked to a permit.

In the past, applicants resorted to multiple reconsiderations when permits were refused, a legal loophole that prolonged the planning process and delayed direct enforcement action if the applicant built illegally.