The Mellieħa local council has served 12 caravan owners in Little Armier with notices giving them until the end of this week to leave the area which they are occupying illegally.

However, Mellieħa mayor Robert Cutajar said it was not clear whether the caravans would actually move since the owners were claiming they were protected under a political agreement reached with boathouse owners in Armier.

Ever since a botched attempt by the government to demolish the illegal boathouses in 1991, the issue resurfaces at every election with boathouse owners reaching agreements with government and opposition on ways to regularise their position.

According to a new by-law that came into force a few months ago, the Mellieħa council could finally take matters into its hands to rid the bay of Little Armier of the caravans that have become a fixture, Mr Cutajar said, adding this was a separate issue to the boathouses.

For this reason, the council last week fixed notices to the caravans giving them a week to vacate the area. However, he said, the owners were insisting they formed part of the agreement reached with boathouses.

Mr Cutajar, who is abroad until tomorrow, said he would look into the issue when he returned to try and find a solution. He said he was willing to give the caravans an alternative site some 300 metres away.

Over the past two years the government has refrained from taking action to remove the 800-boathouse community from Armier despite a crusade by the Land Department against illegal encroachment of public land.

In 2005, Armier Developments Ltd, a company set up by the Armier boathouse community, submitted a development application to turn the shanty town into an organised cluster of beach houses.

However, the application cannot be determined by the planning authority before the Marfa Action Plan is approved.

Until April, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority was still waiting for the Marfa Action Plan to be approved by the Prime Minister before any decisions can be taken on the Armier boathouses, which are still in a state of illegality.