A group of environmental organisations has lashed out at the planning authority’s toothless approach to enforcement.

Nature Trust said it was appalled that cement wash and cow urine contaminated scenic Ħal Farruġ valley, following a prolonged leak at a concrete factory belonging to Polidano Brothers, and the dumping of animal excrement from a neighbouring cow farm.

Highlighted by Times of Malta, the contamination of cement overflow flooded fields adjacent to the factory to an extent that parts turned into solid concrete.

The group said it failed to understand why the authorities took so long to act as there should have been immediate action.

It said it was shocked to see that some contractors not only continued to break the law but at times were having their way through sanctioning or talks with government officials.

Meanwhile, together with Friends of the Earth Malta, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Malta Organic Agriculture Movement, Ramblers Association and Żminijietna, Nature Trust expressed deep concern that enforcement files had been deleted from the planning authority’s server.

The groups said they had been highlighting the fact that some planning officials were not committed to eliminating abuse and they themselves had handled cases where enforcement officers, the very persons responsible for taking measures against abuse, were more focused on concealing it and defending serial abusers rather than stamping it out.

Tampering of official data was a criminal offence and the groups called for action to bring the perpetrators to justice and not simply carry out a whitewash exercise as “has happened in the past”.

The groups queried whether the physical files matching the missing digital data were also similarly removed.

They added that planning officials “failed to notice” blatant abuse at the UC Ltd cement silo built “without permits” at Laboratory Wharf and the ongoing pollution caused by a cement plant and farm at Mqabba.

The groups supported the stand taken by planning authority board member Alex Vella and others who refused to accept sanctioning that only encouraged further abuse.