The Planning Authority has denied claims of collusion made in relation to iillegal works carried out on the former Barracuda Restaurant in St Julian’s.

In a statement, the authority said that even though the illegal works were first reported informally on New Year’s Day, “investigations were immediately conducted to identify the course of action to be taken.”

The PA was referring to comments by St Julian’s mayor Albert Buttigieg on Wednesday. He said he was “morally convinced” the PA's stop and enforcement notice was just a “game” and that its delay had allowed the developer to “wreck” the façade and interiors of the landmark seafront property.

The PA said that when the works were reported to its chairperson, the wooden balconies of the property had already been dismantled while the workers in question were dismantling the lowest portion of the last wooden balcony.

“For this reason, claims emerging in media portals stating that any alleged delay has facilitated the destruction of such wooden balconies is unfounded especially when considering the fact that when the matter was raised, the wooden balconies were already dismantled,” it said.

It said that as soon as the claims of the unauthorised works were raised, it started investigations to determine whether such works were permitted. 

"This process is vital and should not be taken precariously, as from a legal and an administrative point of view, if action is taken without the necessary verifications, there may be undesired consequences, including the withdrawal of orders by a Court of Law,” it said.

For the PA to take action, knowledge of the site history and valid permissions on site is necessary to act promptly and in a correct legal manner, it added.

It said that as soon as these investigations were undertaken, the authority immediately instructed the contravener/s to halt any works on site and continued monitoring to ensure that no further unauthorised works were carried out.

“The Planning Authority makes it clear that in no way does it accept the behaviour of contraveners who proceed with unauthorised works without a valid permission, especially on a day and time to attempt to bypass the Planning Authority’s enforcement,” it said.  

Apart from the stop and enforcement notice which was issued in the last days against the contravener/s, the Planning Authority will proceed with all necessary action in terms of the provisions of the law to ensure that such behaviour is punished whilst ensuring that such offence is remedied, it said.