Numerous stone buildings, footpaths and rubble walls built for the Bethlehem f’Għajnsielem Christmas village are still in place illegally a month after the expiration of the permit for the supposedly temporary structures.
Some 15 one- and two-storey buildings, as well as foot-bridges and a dug-up reservoir, remain standing on the 20,000 square metre stretch of fields known as Ta’ Passi, close to the Għajnsielem village square.
Attracting an estimated 100,000 visitors last year alone, the Christmas village, which has been held annually since 2008, is designed to evoke the Biblical Palestine, with live animal exhibits, food and drink stalls and costumed animators.
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. The Għajnsielem council, however, has no permit for permanent structures from Mepa. Last December’s edition, as in previous years, was covered only by a Development Notification Order (DNO), valid between November 15 and February 14 this year.
The DNO is a legal notice that exempts a range of generally minor developments from full development permit application procedures, if they satisfy certain criteria.
Mepa policy allows the “reversible use of land for cultural and social purposes” by local councils to be covered by a DNO so long as temporary structures are removed within three months and the land is fully restored to its pristine condition.
However, when asked whether Mepa would be taking any enforcement action, a Mepa spokesman said only: “A proposal on this site has been submitted for assessment and Mepa will consider further actions to be taken depending on the outcome of such an assessment.”
The spokesman did not provide any details on the proposal in question, but it is understood that the Għajnsielem council has applied to have the fields converted into a “recreation park” which would accommodate the Christmas village and other events throughout the year.
If approved, this would allow certain structures to be retained on a permanent basis, but the application is still at an early stage.
When contacted, Għajnsielem mayor Franco Ciangura did not deny that the relevant DNO had expired but claimed the council had applied for a new DNO to allow the structures to remain in place for a series of events over the Easter period.
No record of such a DNO being approved could be traced on the Mepa server.
Mr Ciangura also confirmed that the council was still seeking approval for its proposal of a recreation park. He said the goal was to keep the area “natural” and insisted the current buildings were designed to be as reversible as possible.
Bethlehem f’Għajnsielem faced an enforcement notice from Mepa under similar circumstances in 2012, after the temporary structures from the previous year’s event were not dismantled within the stipulated period.
The structures were eventually removed in the summer but the event did not take place that Christmas due to logistical problems resulting from the enforcement action.
The Ta’ Passi area, where the event takes place, 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 in December, 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.”