A coordinated military-style operation last Thursday targeted several illegal structures erected by construction magnate Charles Polidano at his headquarters in Ħal-Farruġ, limits of Luqa.

Mepa contends that the unlawful structures – including a replica Knights’ Tower, a faux-classical style building and a four-storey ‘edifice’ being used as a cafeteria – cover an area of about 64,000 square metres. The illegality of what has been going on at Ħal-Farruġ is, therefore, on a major scale.

Mr Polidano is no stranger to accusations of illegal development and has had several brushes with Mepa. In this case, the enforcement notices have been in force for several years and, despite ongoing discussions, the developer carried on with the illegalities with apparent disregard of the planning authority’s right to enforce planning law. Taken at face value, therefore, and given the way Mr Polidano has operated in the past, Mepa was undoubtedly correct to act as it did – with force and determination.

In light of the increasing sensitivity of citizens of all political colours to the illegal construction that has blighted so much of the environment over the years, the government was right to signal that nobody is above the law.

Questions may understandably be raised, however, whether the presence of armed police during the Ħal-Farruġ operation was a disproportionate display of force in the circumstances. Does this herald a regressive change in policy?

The application of the rule of law must play a major part in the protection of Malta’s fast-diminishing environment. The illegalities committed by Mr Polidano on 64,000 square metres of land presumably once represented open countryside, now permanently lost whatever the penalty imposed on him.

The inability and lack of political will exercised by successive governments to enforce planning law has been appalling.

It has been characterised by a lack of enforcement resources and too great a willingness to turn a blind eye to powerful lobby groups, such as the construction industry. One would hope that what we witnessed at Ħal-Farruġ last week may, at last, signal the necessary application of political backbone to enforce the law. But people remain sceptical.

An effort to enforce regulations must be underpinned by the availability of the necessary manpower resources to act decisively whenever a transgression of planning law occurs, no matter how small or large.

The fact that enforcement, as in this case, has taken years to apply inevitably encourages those developers, like Mr Polidano, who feel that they can get their illegality “sanctioned” (retrospectively made legal) if enough time has elapsed, to risk breaking the law.

There is one more ingredient lacking. Once enforcement has been implemented by Mepa, the law courts must ensure that the administration of justice reflects the seriousness of the offence which breaking environmental and planning law entails. Too often there have been instances of law-breaking apparently being treated less severely by the courts than the law might provide and the public expect. This undermines the planning authority and conveys the misplaced message that the environment is of minor importance.

It is not, and last week’s action against Mr Polidano is an overdue signal that enforcement of the law is crucially important to the protection of the environment. But unless the government shows over the long-term it was not just for show, it would have been pretty pointless.