A court has annulled a permit issued by the Planning Area Permits Board (PAPB) in the 1980s for the construction of a fireworks factory in the limits of Zebbieh after finding that the factory was located too close to inhabited buildings.

Mr Justice Silvio Meli in the First Hall of the Civil Court delivered this judgment following a case filed by the property owners against the PAPB, and against the Santa Marija Band Club of Mosta.

In their case filed in 1989 the owners told the court that the Band Club had started to build the factory in the limits of Zebbieh after it was granted a permit by the PAPB. They said that the Explosives Ordinance stipulated that any such factory had to be at a distance of not less than 183 metres from a road which was regularly in use.

In this case it resulted that the road was only 105 metres away from the fireworks factory. The property owners said that they regularly used this road for driving and for access to their fields and they requested the court to annul the building permit.

Mr Justice Meli commenced the substantive part of his judgment by apologising to all the parties concerned for the undue delay in this case which delay, said the court, ought never to have occurred.

The court appointed technical expert had concluded that the roads and the properties were too close to the fireworks factory and the permit for its construction ought never to have been issued.

The court concluded that the permit was in violation of the Explosives' Ordinance andit annulled the building permit.