Updated 10.30am
Newly elected Naxxar mayor Chris Deguara has encouraged residents to ignore several reserved parking signs on a busy road in the locality after they were installed recently by a private company.
The signs warning against parking in six bays on St Paul’s Street in Naxxar were put up recently by Malta Properties, attracting the ire of residents who had previously been able to make use of the bays.
In a Facebook post earlier this week, the company said it owned the land according to contracts from “several years ago”, stressing the area was “not 'public land’”.
But on Thursday afternoon, the mayor said that despite the land being privately owned it was still available for public use.
“I can proudly say that the land is private but can be used by the public,” said Deguara, explaining the council had come to the conclusion after reviewing documents provided by Malta Properties claiming it owned the land.
He said the council’s lawyers had written to the company and asked Transport Malta to remove the signs, which he said should take a week.
“From now on, I can say that all residents can benefit from this public parking,” he said in a minute-long video uploaded to YouTube and shared to the Naxxar local council Facebook page.
The Local Enforcement Systems Agency (LESA) and police had also been told to ignore the signs, he added.
Times of Malta has approached Malta Properties for comment.
Earlier this week, Naxxar local council executive secretary Paul Gatt had said the council was in discussion with the company to allow residents to use the parking bays out of office hours.
Parking has proved to be a contentious issue that has only been exacerbated as the country's population and the number of cars on the road have both continued to grow.
'Our decision is also supported by legal advice': Malta Properties
In a response posted on Saturday morning, Malta Properties said while it could not comment on legal advice given to the council, its decision to put up the signs was "also supported by legal advice".
It said it had met with the council about the matter prior to the recent elections and was willing to continue discussions to "constructively address the council's queries and concerns."