Wardens kept out of Birzebbuga

Wardens will not set foot in Birzebbuga to hand out fines because the MLP's electoral manifesto for the locality stated explicitly that wardens would not be introduced in the village, Birzebbuga mayor Joseph Farrugia reaffirmed yesterday.

Wardens are only being deployed on the main road leading to Birzebbuga, which does not fall within the council's jurisdiction.

The issue of wardens patrolling the locality was brought to the fore last month after the Zurrieq joint committee, made up of representatives from the Birzebbuga, Luqa, Mqabba, Qrendi, Zurrieq, Kirkop and Safi local councils decided to start sending wardens to the seaside resort.

But Mr Farrugia threatened to resign from the Labour Party and take legal action if wardens set foot in his locality and start issuing tickets.

Within the MLP there is a lot of debate about how the wardens system should be implemented. Some local councils are making money while others are losing money by implementing the system. Party sources said the decision to send wardens to Birzebbuga was likely to be motivated by the fact that being a popular summer resort, it would be very easy to issue a considerable number of citations, making the system a profitable one.

But the Birzebbuga mayor argued wardens were not needed in his locality, because the police were responsible for law enforcement and should do their duty. "Policemen are paid from people's taxes and I do not see why the council should spend money to operate the warden service when we can do other things to embellish the locality with that money," he said.

Asked about the MLP's stand on the matter, Mr Farrugia said the MLP did not interfere in whether a council made use of wardens or not.

"I have also spoken to the other Labour mayors in the joint committee and told them not to interfere in the way we run things within our council. I do not interfere in theirs' as they know what's best in their locality, and I and my council know what's best for mine," Mr Farrugia said.

The chairman of the joint committee, Carmel Falzon, said the committee was set up by law and was making sure that the wardens' service would be used "in the best interests of the area".