The controversial Naxxar circus will shift by a few metres to satisfy planning regulations which state that it cannot remain on the same spot for more than 30 days.

The tents will be moved onto another footprint, recessed from the original one, and the show is expected to go on today at 5pm, a circus spokesman said.

This logical yet impractical solution means that the Circo Fantasy will not be breaching planning law while the Malta Environment and Planning Authority will ensure its regulations are respected, a spokesman for the circus said.

Being a temporary structure, the circus does not need a Mepa permit to set up. But, according to planning regulations, temporary structures have to be removed within 30 days.

On Tuesday, Mepa ordered the circus to cease operations after its 30-day permit expired and gave the owner 16 days to leave.

Circus owner Mario Sali claimed he was in possession of police, veterinary and local council permits to run the circus in Naxxar until January 6. In protest he locked himself in a cage with two tigers for seven hours on Wednesday, only emerging when a meeting was set up with Mepa to find a solution.

On Thursday attempts were made to find an alternative site where the circus could move to.

But the owners of the sites, which included the Blata l-Bajda land used for the park-and-ride service by Arriva, did not accept. As no solution was found Mr Sali went back into the cage with the tigers on Friday where he stayed late into the night.

Yesterday morning, the circus operators reassembled the tents that had been dismantled following the authority’s orders. Mepa officials went on site with police and a meeting was held in the presence of the circus’s lawyer and architects, the spokesman said.

He added that the circus had police and local council permits to use the entire parking area of the former trade fair grounds until January 6.

When the circus was first set up the tents did not occupy the entire area but took up a contained footprint.

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