A country pathway in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq was illegally opened up to traffic for the third time, following the mysterious removal of concrete barricades early on Sunday morning.

The barricades were removed by a man in a blue chequered shirt driving a “small blue tractor” at about 7am on Sunday, a resident told The Times.

This happened in open defiance of a planning authority enforcement notice ordering that the path be closed to traffic.

Residents say problems first began three years ago, when the entire path, just off Triq Qalet Marku, was covered with a thick layer of concrete and opened up to cars and trucks, despite no valid permit to turn it into a road.

“It’s been absolutely miserable since then,” said one resident, who declined to be named.

“Trucks drive past at 4.30am and you get plenty of mini-refuse vans and tractors too. They turned a quiet country spot into a noisy, dirty, chaotic one.”

Attempts by the Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq administrative council to block off access to the lane have all been thwarted. The council replaced a dismantled stone boundary wall with steel barriers but these soon vanished.

That led to the concrete block barriers, which residents were so pleased with that they jointly wrote a thank-you letter to the administrative council.

But, now, with the concrete blocks removed, residents find themselves back where they started.

“Both Mepa and Transport Malta seem to agree with us. But it seems that’s not enough because someone seems intent on keeping the road open,” said administrative council chairwoman Maryanne Cuomo.

Who that “someone” is, however, remains a mystery. Equally puzzling is who ordered the pathway to be layered with concrete in the first place.

Mepa’s enforcement notice lists Transport Malta and the Commissioner of Land as the contraveners but, according to sources, officials at the transport regulator said they had never given any order to pave the lane nor open it to traffic.

The Times asked both Transport Malta and the Land Commissioner whether they had ordered the lane’s paving. Neither had replied at the time of writing.

Transport Malta has since written to the Naxxar council to say it had no objection to the lane being closed off.

A Mepa spokesman explained that the authority’s enforcement notice concerned the illegal laying of concrete on the path.

“Traffic considerations are not part of our remit,” he explained.

In the meantime, Triq Qalet Marku residents are at their wits’ end, as vehicles move up and down a makeshift road that should not be there.

One man could not contain his frustration: “We don’t want it, the council doesn’t want it, Mepa doesn’t want it and Transport Malta doesn’t want it.

“But it seems we can’t have this road closed off. What sort of nonsense is this?”