It’s called the Big Fair, with over 200 exhibitors, 1,500 workers, numerous parking spaces, toys for children, lotteries for adults, music, food stands and an expected 100,000 visitors. That is truly a retail bonanza, the ideal venue for a family outing on a summer evening and, yes, it was held at Montekristo Estates. That is where the problems start.
Last year, the fair was refused a police permit as Mepa, today the Planning Authority, objected because of enforcement notices on the site at Ħal-Farruġ. The fair organisers were defiant and a permit was eventually issued by the Police Licensing Appeals Board.
This year, the controversy unfolded differently but came to the same result. The authorities told the organisers they would not be allowed to overrun their allotted exhibition space. In other words, the Planning Authority was limiting the event to areas that had legitimate planning permission. The organisers called off the fair. Then suddenly the fair was back, after Economy Minister Chris Cardona stepped in and gave a “special concession”, as the president of the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, Paul Abela chose to describe the arrangement reached.
Exactly what authority the minister had to overrule the Planning Authority has not been made clear. The only thing his ministry would say is that Dr Cardona did not interfere with decisions taken by the Trade Department, which is an entirely different issue.
In one fell swoop, Dr Cardona’s “special concession” wiped away the Planning Authority’s credibility, its autonomy and brought to zilch any of its efforts to bring order to the Montekristo site.
When the regulator tried to move in on Montekristo Estates in November 2013, it had said there was 64,000 square metres of land under enforcement notices. That action was stopped through the issue of a court injunction. At the time, the government had supported Mepa’s action and warned it would “not tolerate any abuse, wherever it comes from”. It did not mention any “special concessions”.
The fair organisers were relieved by Dr Cardona’s concession and said the authorities had placed the national and economic importance of events like the Big Fair “above bureaucracy”.
It is unacceptable to call enforcement notices bureaucracy. The upholding of planning laws is not bureaucracy. An illegal zoo inside Montekristo Estates is not an issue of bureaucracy but of public safety. And the fact that Montekristo has started dismantling illegal structures is not a concession but a legal obligation.
The Planning Authority’s efforts to clamp down on the widespread infringement of planning rules around the country should not be undermined by eleventh hour political intercessions. What is the point of the recently-launched mobile app when the enforcement notices it shows are ignored?
Enforcement notices in Armier, a shanty town built illegally on public land, count for nothing when a government comes forward and offers water and electricity services to the squatters.
Enforcement notices are useless when, as happened recently, the Planning Authority board indicated it may be willing to sanction an illegal 3,500-square-metre storage facility on ODZ land in Burmarrad, partly because of the large number of workers there.
Political intercession is what has ruined this country’s natural and built heritage over the years. How many more “special concessions” will be issued before the country finally grows up?