Mepa has defended the development being carried out in a Mosta ODZ area by the government’s Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools.

The planning authority said in a statement today the foundation had not breached its instructions to stop work on the site.

The case was exposed by Times of Malta earlier this month. Heavy machinery was being used at work in an ODZ area opposite the government school at Żokrija in Mosta.

The newspaper published the story only after the Authority had sent its enforcement officer on site. On January 31, the Authority had told Times of Malta that it had stopped works without a permit on an access passageway and gate.

Today, Mepa stressed it had not stopped the foundation from proceeding with other work.

The Authority said works on the boundary wall and the infilling of the gap between the rock face and the wall, including its landscaping, were being allowed since these works were a continuation of two valid planning permits.

Works witnessed on site last week did not match this description. At the time, a press conference was held on site where Opposition spokesman Ryan Callus and Mosta Mayor Shirley Farrugia spoke on behalf of residents who said their complaints about work in the field had fallen on deaf ears.

They said the fact that work was being done by government was “scandalous”.

The FTS had insisted it was removing “illegally dumped material” on site, which turned out to be debris from the construction of its school located opposite the field.

The government foundation insisted it was only restoring the field for agricultural use to be included in the school’s curriculum, and no permit was necessary.

When Mepa had replied to questions from this newspaper before the story’s publication, it said that while the removal of debris did not require a permit, “it resulted” that the work was being done was for a proposed access passageway and gate to field.

“While Mepa has permitted the use of the access created... for the removal of debris and inert material, it has stopped the current work and will monitor the site to ensure that no further works in connection with the planning application are carried out prior to the issuance of a development permit,” a spokesman had told Times of Malta.

The FTS applied for this after this newspaper exposed the issue.