Mayor complains after Ħondoq car park partly cordoned off with concrete blocks
The owners of the site have been given until Monday to remove them
Qala mayor Paul Buttigieg has complained that a section of the car park at Ħondoq ir-Rummien in Gozo has been cordoned off by the owners of the site.
Buttigieg took to Facebook on Saturday to post a video showing several large concrete blocks painted with the words ‘Danger keep back’, which he said had been placed there on Friday, obstructing part of the area.
“This confirms what I have always said: that if [the area] was developed, it would be closed to the public with the excuse of danger,” he wrote.
In 2024, Hondoq was formally designated as a Special Area of Conservation by the Environment Authority following a hard-fought battle by Buttigieg and activists.
The owners of the site told Times of Malta they had a permit for the blocks, adding that the danger was related to Storm Harry.
However, a government source disputed the claim and said the site owners had been given until Monday to remove them, or else an enforcement notice would be issued by the Planning Authority.
If authorities do take action, it will be the second time in the area in the space of a week; on Thursday, a popular Ħondoq kiosk was served with an enforcement notice after works were carried out without planning permission.
The works included the addition of an iron structure covered with a canvas roof and sides, solar panels, the construction of a WC and ironwork surrounding the kiosk.