The ombudsman has taken a dispute with the Lands Authority a step further, writing to the prime minister about its “frivolous” excuses to avoid implementing regulations on official markings for outdoor catering areas on public land.
Alan Saliba, commissioner for environment and planning within the office of the ombudsman, sent Robert Abela a copy of his recommendations to the Lands Authority to “implement regulations and procedures to delineate areas that have been given concessions for chairs and tables for commercial purposes on public land”.
He told the prime minister that the authority had only given its initial reaction to an investigation started last August, a “whole four months” after it was approached by the ombudsman.
It is useless for the Lands Authority to continue expecting that these markings should fall under the responsibility of the Planning Authority- Ombudsman office
The investigation with the Lands Authority, as the responsible regulator, was opened following a complaint on the lack of official markings for outdoor catering areas to control and eliminate incursions onto public roads and pavements.
The ombudsman had highlighted in its final opinion in December that the authority “again does not even collaborate with the institution in finding a proper way forward to enhance its administrative role”.
'Commercial interests mushrooming everywhere'
Saliba was referring to “similar recurrent and sensitive issues, where commercial interests are mushrooming everywhere, reaching uncontrollable levels”.
In the report, the ombudsman had slammed the Lands Authority for “yet another clear case” of the failure to cooperate.
According to the policy on outdoor catering areas in public open spaces, the fixing of steel markers must be carried out by contractors appointed by the permitting authorities and the related costs borne by the applicant, the report had pointed out.
The Lands Authority was asked to inform the ombudsman about what was being done to implement this policy to the full.
It eventually replied to the ombudsman saying it was an administrator of public property and not a regulatory authority and, therefore, could not be described as a “permitting authority”.
Its role, it said, was “limited to granting consent to applicants for their submission of development permission applications on public property and then reacting to the result by issuing the relative encroachment concessions, neither of which can be described as permits”.
The Lands Authority maintained it was limited to issuing concessions to the areas granted permission by the permitting authorities.
But in the letter from the ombudsman’s office to the prime minister in January, Saliba said the excuse the Lands Authority gave not to follow the recommendations was “frivolous”.
The ombudsman’s office has insisted that, as the government property department, it was one of the “permitting authorities”.
“It is useless for the Lands Authority to continue expecting that these markings should fall under the responsibility of the Planning Authority because this is not in conformity with the equal administration of public land and because these markings are not considered development,” it said in its letter to Abela.
‘Government holds citizens in contempt’
Lawyer Claire Bonello had filed the original complaint on behalf of her clients from Sliema due to “constant further incursions on the public road and/or pavement from establishments with structures for tables and chairs”.
On this latest development, she said: “The law is clear. The Lands Authority has to lay down steel markers to delineate outside catering areas. This is necessary so everyone can see to what extent concessions are granted. Instead, it intentionally breaks the law to allow a free for all."
"The fact that parliament has totally ignored the ombudsman’s recommendation regarding this case (and many others) shows that the government holds the law, the institutions and citizens in utter contempt”, she added.
Examples of outdoor catering establishments that have flouted the law are plenty, with kiosks taking over the promenades without any permits and even ignoring enforcement notices.