Updated 1pm with names of those cited in notice

A controversial kiosk on The Strand in Sliema has “finally” been served with an enforcement notice by the Planning Authority, ordering it to remove all illegalities.

Trattoria del Mare was not in accordance with PA 07319/18 and the site had to be brought in line with the approved permit within 16 days from the enforcement order sent a month ago, the notice warned.

Gas cylinders placed outside, at the back of the kiosk, and patterned tiles, different from the rest of the promenade’s paving, should have been removed by now.

Other breaches included umbrellas that were bigger than the area allocated for chairs and tables while even the kiosk’s position differed from that indicated in the permit, the notice pointed out.

Issued to the owners on December 19, the notice gave two weeks to remove these infringements. But images of the kiosk show that, to date, the gas cylinders were still outside and the coloured tiles have remained intact.

According to the PA website, businessman Darren Casha serves as the prime contact and contravenor for the kiosk development. Anthony Catania and the Lands Authority are also cited. 

Catania was listed as the applicant on the kiosk's original planning application.

The PA also sent a copy of the order to the architect responsible for the project, Stephen Psaila, as well as the Sliema local council. 

The order was sent around five months after the PA refused to sanction irregularities and directed its enforcement arm to reinstate the site and rectify the breaches.

Back then, it had determined that the catering establishment extended beyond its permit, even going beyond the illegalities it had requested to sanction.

Riddled with a string of breached policies, it had more than doubled its original encroachment.

Sent also to the Lands Authority and circulated to the Sliema local council, the enforcement notice demanded that remedial steps be taken and that any development on the site be immediately halted.

Fines amounting to ‘a cappuccino a day’

The enforcement officer also warned that the owners would be subjected to daily fines if no changes were made, with penalties going from €2 every day for a year to €4 thereafter up to a maximum of €50,000.

But while appreciating that enforcement action was being taken, environment NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, which had objected from the start, maintained the fines of €2 a day rendered the order “risible”.

It has been highlighting that these fines are no deterrent, adding “they actually encourage abuse as it obviously pays catering outlets to increase tables abusively when their fine amounts to no more than the cost of a cappuccino a day!”

After a decade, FAA said, no attempt has been made to raise the low fines that favoured abusive developers.

It also highlighted the role of abusive architects, saying that, in this case, incorrect information had been provided to the PA in an attempt to regularise the clients’ abuse.

FAA questioned “why no action is being taken against such professions who aid and abet this”.

The original glass and aluminium enclosure that was removed, following public outrage.

“A skewed system that wears people down”

“This enforcement order has finally been issued after multiple, repeated, persistent complaints of blatantly evident irregularities,” said lawyer Claire Bonello, who represented objectors and has been opposing the kiosk that grew into an extensive dining area on public land. About the latest twist, she said the system was “skewed” in a way that wore people down and allowed irregularities.

Last summer, the PA had refused to sanction abusive alterations and enforcement officers were directed to inspect the kiosk at night, when the restaurant operated at full capacity, and to reinstate the site.

Its chairs and tables had spread to the water’s edge, even occupying the seawall, blocking access to pedestrians.

The Sliema kiosk was first ordered to reduce its occupation of the promenade and remove illegal structures around 18 months ago but it had extended its footprint instead.

Calls for enforcement had not resulted in any action, only in the sanctioning application, with objectors insisting it was yet another step in the incremental takeover of the Sliema-Gżira promenade.

The trattoria’s reliance on a portable toilet, further blocking the seafront, and a food storage van stationed in a no-parking area at all hours of the day and night had also been highlighted. ­Complaints had also revolved around overflowing sewers, rats and other hygiene issues, with a nearby skip used by the kiosk to dump its rubbish, an unbearable stench and smoke emerging from the kitchen.

A non-compliant permanent roofed enclosure, eating into the promenade and obstructing views, had already been removed by the developer, following public outrage over the eyesore, the ‘theft’ of the land and the lack of enforcement.

Trattoria del Mare also had no catering licence and was “expressly forbidden by policy”, Bonello, a legal representative on many planning cases, had argued.

The Sliema local council had also entered the fray, objecting to the encroachment of the promenade and questioning the system of sanctioning illegalities, geared to encourage infringements of permits.