The annual Christmas village in Għajnsielem is covered only by a permit for temporary buildings for three months of the year – despite a number of structures on the 20,000 square metre site remaining in place all year.
Bethlehem f’Għajnsielem, which has been held annually since 2008, takes place on an extensive area of fields on a stretch of land known as Ta’ Passi, close to the village square.
Attracting an estimated100,000 visitors last year alone, it is designed to evoke the Palestine of 2,000 years ago, with live animal exhibits, food and drink stalls and costumed animators. This year’s edition has been open since December 6 and closes on January 3.
Most of the structures built for the event are wooden, but animal stalls and the central ‘Nativity grotto’ are built out of stone for safety reasons.
According to the Għajnsielem council, as the event grew in size, it was no longer feasible to remove all the structures at the end of the season, and a number now remain in place throughout the year.
However, a Mepa spokesman confirmed to the Times of Malta that as with previous editions, this year’s Christmas village is covered by a Development Notification Order (DNO), which is only valid between November and February. The DNO is a legal notice that exempts a range of generally minor developments from full development permit application procedures, as long as they satisfy certain criteria.
Mepa policy allows the “reversible use of land for cultural and social purposes” by councils to be covered by a DNO as long as temporary structures are removed within three months and the land is fully restored to its pristine condition.
When contacted, Għajnsielem mayor Franco Ciangura insisted the Christmas village was in full compliance with its permit conditions. He stressed that the event was hugely popular with the public and run by a team of volunteers, such that it was not possible for all the structures to be removed and rebuilt every year.
The event faced an enforcement notice from Mepa in 2012, since the temporary structures from the previous year’s event had not been dismantled within the stipulated period. The structures were eventually removed in the summer but the event did not take place that year due to logistical problems, partly as a result of the situation that had arisen with Mepa.
The Għajnsielem council has since applied to have the fields converted into a recreation park which can accommodate the Christmas village and other events throughout the year, allowing certain structures to be retained, but the application is still at an early stage.
The Ta’ Passi area is described by organisers as having been “an eyesore, uncultivated and abandoned, accumulating refuse” before the first edition of the Christmas village.
Other observers, however, disagree with the assessment. Writing in this newspaper earlier this month, columnist Mark Anthony Falzon lamented the loss of a “splendid patch of garigue and agricultural patchwork” at Ta’ Passi.
“The whole place has now been buried under a sea of huts, walkways, water channels and such. Bethlehem f’Għajnsielem has turned a lovely place into an eyesore. To popular applause.”