Labour MP builds ‘caravan’ first, asks for permit later

Labour MP Silvio Parnis is unrepentant after requesting a planning permit for a wooden structure he built illegally in St Paul’s Bay.

The one-bedroom wooden structure, which he claims to be a caravan, is in a private yard within the development zone.

Last year the Malta Environment and Planning Authority issued an enforcement order and subsequently Mr Parnis filed a planning application to sanction the structure.

When contacted Mr Parnis said he did not know that erecting a wooden structure “in a garden” required a planning permit.

“At first I thought I did not need a permit and then they (Mepa) informed me I needed one and I applied immediately,” he said when asked whether it was appropriate for him as an MP to seek a permit after perpetrating an illegality.

“Do you need a permit to erect something in your garden? I did not remove it because the application falls under the old Mepa law and it is now being evaluated. Otherwise I would have removed it.”

Mr Parnis insisted he did not carry out construction work but simply “put the wooden structure there”.

The next Mepa hearing on the application is on March 30 although the case officer has recommended a refusal.

The case officer’s report disputes Mr Parnis’s description of the structure as a caravan since it lacks wheels that prevent it from being towed by a vehicle.

“It is, therefore, a permanent timber structure intended for habitation,” the report says, adding that if it had to be considered a caravan it would still be counter to Mepa policies, which state that permanent residential caravan sites will not be permitted.

The structure, which is less than one storey high, has one bedroom with an adjoining toilet, a kitchen and a storeroom.

The case officer report also states that the structure does not have sufficient floor area for a dwelling unit and the fact it was built entirely of wood made it incompatible with the principles of good urban design.

“The proposal does not comply with sanitary laws and regulations in that it consists of a fixed structure in the yard of the adjoining building. The materials used for the structure and its height also do not comply with sanitary laws and regulations,” the report states.