Wardens would not be employed by private firms under proposals. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Decisions on the local warden system should be taken by local councils and not by a centralised government unit as this would breach the principle of subsidiarity, the Nationalist Party said yesterday.

Addressing a news conference at the party headquarters, Opposition spokesman on local councils David Agius outlined the party’s position on the White Paper about the local enforcement system.

Under the government’s proposals, local wardens would no longer be employed by private companies but through a centralised unit that would fall under the Local Enforcement System Management Committee.

The unit would offer its services to regional committees and the money collected would go to local councils. Under the previous system, over 70 per cent went to private companies with only 10 per cent going to local councils and the rest to the regional committees.

Wardens represent the democratic will of the people

Mr Agius said the number of wardens assigned to the local council should be proportional to their size and not decided arbitrarily by the centralised unit.

The PN is suggesting that councils with just five members should join forces to ensure that at least one warden is present for a minimum number of hours every week in each locality. Medium-sized councils having seven or nine councillors should employ at least one warden, the rest at least two.

The Opposition is also arguing that local councils should be allowed to decide themselves where to assign wardens, as they represent “the democratic will of the people”.

The PN is calling for more emphasis on environmental offences such as littering and illegal dumping. In addition, it is proposing the periodic rotation of wardens across several regions to prevent abuse.

The current model in Gozo should be retained as the system of having a regional committee made up of representatives from all councils had been successful. Mr Agius said the PN is also calling for the creation of a body whose remit would be to administer an extra pool of wardens, and assign them extra duties not directly related to daily enforcement.

These would include one-off events for the masses. This unit would be composed of representatives from the government, local councils and the private sector.

Mr Agius argued that once the system was viable, the private sector would be expected to express interest if the government was willing to involve it.