I sympathise with Anthony's Camilleri letter about commercial permits in Qui-Si-Sana (November 7).

We live in a block where a cafeteria was granted a permit at ground floor level. We could live with that since no cooking was permitted. Some years later a change of use was approved and a small grocery store opened (PA 5298/93). Regrettably the grocery store closed down and a restaurant opened instead.

To cut a long story short, the restaurant is still open, operating from two floors now and having an extension, but we are still waiting for Mepa to show us the permit for this restaurant. Mepa keep on insisting that because it was once a cafeteria it could operate as a restaurant.

Mepa auditor Joe Falzon on May 31, 2004 said: "The last permit issued is that of a supermarket".

Judge Tonio Mallia, in the judgment following a court injunction, said that "Before a restaurant is opened, all permits and licences should be obtained from Mepa and other competent authorities and that during operation no nuisance to the neighbours is created".

It seems that at some point the MTA reactivated the licence and recently even changed it to reflect the use of a restaurant. When challenged, the authorities always told us that the files at Mepa and MTA seem to be missing. In his report, the Mepa auditor also refers to these "missing" files.

Although the court, the Ombudsman and the Mepa auditor all confirmed that the restaurant is open without proper permit or licence, Mepa still has not lifted a finger and the MTA told us that they can do nothing about it.

Because of this, we have to endure odours, noise, smells, parking problems and late-night music and nuisance. That shows how the small, innocent permit turned into a nightmare. To date we have spent thousands of liri on consultants, lawyers, architects and court fees. I sincerely believed that when we voted to join the EU this sort of chaos would stop, but I was wrong. It's a good thing that both responsible Ministers are candidates in our locality now that the election is round the corner.