The hunters’ campaign poster on an illegal billboard in Naxxar

Illegal billboards which the planning authority has been promising to remove for the past year are now being used by the hunters’ lobby to mount their Yes campaign posters, Times of Malta has found out.

A case in point is a billboard structure at the top of Labour Avenue in Naxxar, originally erected before the 2013 general election to promote the Labour Party.

Despite an enforcement order last July giving the company responsible for it three days before Mepa was to take direct action, the illegal structure is still in place.

Last September, when this billboard was being used by the government to market its Independence celebrations at the Grand Harbour, Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon admitted it was illegal and would be taken down.

“All illegal billboards will be removed in a staggered manner,” he had assured Times of Malta.

However, this billboard and similar structures, installed by Aiken Services Ltd to be used by the Labour Party before the last elections, are still in place.

Apart from its continuous use by commercial and philanthropic entities during the year, the Naxxar billboard, with the enforcement notice still stuck to it, is now at the disposal of the IVA hunting lobby.

Another one in Marsa is also displaying posters of the hunting lobby.

Asked to explain the continuous presence of illegal billboards in the arterial road network, despite declarations that illegalities will not be tolerated, Mepa failed to reply by the time of writing.

Last August, a number of companies operating billboards legally accused Mepa of turning a blind eye to those of Aiken Services despite various reports made against them.

However, Mepa had defended its actions by stating that “the authority is following a programme of works to remove the illegal billboards over the coming weeks”.

In May 2014, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had also admitted that the government was making use of illegal billboards but shifted the blame onto contractors. He too had promised action.