Giving lawbreakers a break

Great start for a new broom 

What on earth is going on? I thought we, the law-abiding public, were going to get a break with a new government. Instead, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) is now going to grant a reprieve to all the cowboys who ignored planning rules. I read with grave concern that the enforcement rules to be changed by MEPA will mean that property owners who built illegally will now have “up to three years to get their non-compliant structures approved”. 

Now what kind of message is that relaying? The people who followed the rules must be fuming and rightly so. Mepa is now giving lawbreakers a long ‘breathing’ space to get their illegality sanctioned. Great start for a new government and the new Mepa board, which has introduced an enforcement provision that allows developers 36 months “to try and obtain any necessary sanctioning”.

Of course Din l-Art Helwa is right in calling it a retrograde step and stating, “Rather than solve the ‘endless list’ of illegalities, the move may serve to make the list grow longer.” The previous board had also been criticised for sometimes sanctioning illegality, but one would have expected a new government, which had made such a big deal about being different from the one it replaced, to change such bad practice and get tougher with those who broke the law.

The lawbreakers are antisocial, to say the least, but the supposed caretakers and enforcers, (i.e. the government, voted in by the people in good faith, which has not only allowed this kind of behaviour to take place but is now rewarding the wrongdoers) are the worst offenders.
MEPA, with the government’s blessing, is not only getting softer with lawbreakers but is also extending expired building permits and encouraging developers to increase hotel building heights. Is it strategy that all these decisions are being taken before the Environment section is separated from MEPA?

Has this new wave to get illegality legal have any bearing on the boathouses and caravans saga, by any chance? Well done Mr Justice Anthony Ellul who has just ruled that construction on public land at Little Armier is illegal and caravan occupants have no legal title to the land.
Armier Developments Ltd and a number of caravan occupants requested the court to declare that they were legally entitled to make use of their constructions at Armier in virtue of an agreement entered into with the government in 2003. They also requested a declaration that the eviction order issued against them by the Commissioner of Lands was not enforceable.
Armier Bay is illegally occupied by boathouse owners who built their summer huts over 67,000 square metres of seafront in an outside development zone. And this is not the only bay taken over by squatters. I am not sure when the rot started, but the problem we are facing today is down to the two political parties (PL & PN) granting favours to garner votes. And I am not saying anything new here.

The judge pointed out that in April 2003, the then Minister for Home Affairs (Tonio Borg) had informed Armier Developments Ltd by means of a letter that the government was ready to accept the construction of a number of units in the area subject to a number of conditions.
So instead of righting a wrong, the now European Commissioner was then aiding and abetting Armier Developments Ltd. The judge also said that the Leader of the Opposition (Alfred Sant) had confirmed, in 2007, that the agreement reached between plaintiffs and the Labour Party about the boathouses would be honoured. More aiding and abetting.
Nineteen days before the 2008 general election and just five days after announcing he was taking over responsibility for MEPA, to redress the country's “environmental deficit”, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had written to the Armier squatters promising to legalise the illegal boathouse community, six months after being re-elected.

“Promising to legalise the illegal”, is that no clearer proof of aiding and abetting the lawbreakers. Was that redressing the country’s environmental deficit? Of course not and our new government is about to follow suit. In March this year, Armier Developments Ltd wrote to its members saying that Joseph Muscat has confirmed an agreement originally reached in 2002 with Labour MP Joe Mizzi. So the rot continues to rot.
What intrigues me is this: despite all the promises made by the political parties to the people who want to continue breaking the law, how does each party know who, in fact, the secret vote went to? They would have got their way anyway whoever finally governs.

Mr Justice Ellul pointed out that the caravans in question were very close to the sea and were built on public land, which was in the public domain. The foreshore, said the court, could not be subjected to private rights. The court added that the letter sent by the government in April 2003 could not be deemed a binding contract for the parties were conducting negotiations.
The letter was explaining what the government was proposing. It was inconceivable, the court said, that that letter could be construed as a binding contract allowing persons who had illegally occupied public land to continue occupying it. Neither was the confirmation issued in 2008 a binding contract between the parties, for no one was entitled to occupy public land without a legal title. Transfers of public land had to be carried out in terms of law.
Yet, both political parties have blithely ignored the rule of law and made up their own rules to suit as they went along. The court also referred to the fact that the caravans had been provided with water and electricity services adding that the fact that Enemalta had provided the caravans with services gave rise to many questions. Indeed, who is going to be held accountable for that gross mismanagement?

Alternattiva Demokratika has welcomed the judgement and noted that in past years it campaigned actively for the demolition of the Armier shantytown. The issue formed part of AD’s electoral manifesto in the last elections. Unfortunately, people are still not prepared to give AD a fighting chance.
Its deputy chairman, Carmel Cacopardo, said that land next to the sea should be accessible to all and not just a select few. Who can disagree with that? He called on the Prime Minister as the minister responsible for the Lands Department, to “call in the demolition people next Monday”.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he would wait for advice on this morning's ruling before taking any action and pointed out that it could still be appealed.
Come on Prime Minister, just having public consultation meetings will get us nowhere unless action is taken. This is your chance to prove that you are indeed different and let’s hope the appeal judges will not overrule Mr Justice Ellul’s sane judgement, which should set a precedent and give back all the bays taken over illegally back to the public domain.

 Published on Sunday, 30 June 2013