The Land Authority must take measures to ensure that a roadside platform for tables and chairs outside a St Julian’s cafeteria is removed and the parking spaces reinstated, the Environment Ombudsman, Alan Saliba has ruled. 

The Environment and Planning Ombudsman investigated the platform that robbed residents of five parking spaces in Main Street, St Julian’s upon the request of mayor Albert Buttigieg who asked him to look into how the PA “abusively” issued a permit in August last year when the Lands Authority was objecting. 

The permit was originally denied in June but the decision was reversed a month later at the appeals stage on the basis of a 'no objection' from the Government Property Division.

Work on the building of the platform was stopped in December following complaints by the council and the Lands Authority. Among other issues, the council complained about the loss of valuable parking spaces and the traffic chaos such facilities create.

The ombudsman found no fault in the PA’s actions, saying that it had no option but to issue the permit once the appeals tribunal had decided against the original decision. He said the PA was only informed last month that the Land Authority was objecting to the permit granted in 2019.

The Land Authority had already objected in August 2018 to the applicant’s application to be granted a permit to take over the public land for his roadside platform but the PA was not aware of this in 2019 and the objection only reached it in February 2020. 

Saliba expressed his surprise how the applicant - Nola Café, operated by Remax Excellence – chose to proceed with an appeal before the appeals tribunal despite knowing about the 2018 objections by the Lands Authority. He had also continued to pay contributions for the granting of the permit when he knew it could never be brought into force without the consent of the relevant authority, unless it was issued irregularly, as had in fact happened. This was a risk which the applicant chose to take and could never be used to accuse any authority. 

“The PA did the right thing. What should be done is this: the Land Authority must take steps, as it seems it is taking, to ensure that the parking spaces are returned to the public according to law,” the ombudsman said in his ruling. 

Welcoming the decision, Mr Buttigieg said he now expected the owner to remove the structure. Otherwise, it should be the Land Authority’s enforcement section which should remove it immediately, he said  

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