Updated 3.30pm, adds PN statement

Żebbuġ residents watched with surprise and indignation on Wednesday as workers from Infrastructure Malta, escorted by the police, moved in to clear a small fruit garden to widen a quiet road.

No one seemed to have been given prior notice of the works at Triq il-Fraxxunu although a notice of works was published in the Government Gazette some days ago.

The garden is state-owned but cared for by the neighbours. Grapevines cared for and funded by a neighbour for 40 years, were uprooted.

Citrus and peach trees which were originally marked for removal, will not be removed, an Infrastructure Malta spokesperson said. 

Infrastructure Malta workers and police from the Rapid Intervention Unit descended on the site just before 8am.

Independent local councillor Steve Zammit Lupi sat on a fence in the path of excavators, in defiance of the works. He said there was no justification for the works and remained there for some three hours before moving on, saying he had made his point. 

"It is my civic duty to speak up when things are not done properly. So should everyone," he said later.

"So in light of these shortcomings, this morning I felt I had to express my frustration by physically sitting on the fence that will be torn down by the digger."

His post on Facebook, explaining his move, had 400 likes within 15 minutes. 

An Infrastructure Malta lawyer, present onsite, said that the works did not require a planning permit. 

Żebbuġ mayor Malcolm Paul Galea, who also went onsite, said the council had not been informed or consulted about the road being widened.   

In a post on Facebook later in the day, Galea said that it appeared the land was government-owned. He reiterated that the council had no prior knowledge of the works and complained that various "ministries and organisations" often failed to communicate adequately.  

Last December, the Planning Authority approved an application for the construction of two maisonettes, six apartments and one penthouse, as well as basement garages, at the end of Triq il-Fraxxnu.

Council's 2016 application

The Żebbuġ local council had filed a planning control application to widen the road in 2016, before Galea was mayor.

However, this was later withdrawn at the council’s request. 

The 2016 application received a single representation which argued against the plans as, according to the resident who objected, the area did not experience heavy traffic nor parking difficulties. 

However in January of 2017, according to council minutes filed on the application, the proposal was withdrawn as the council was “uncertain whether to continue with the procession of the application”. 

'IM obtained permit from transport authority'

When contacted, IM said it had obtained the required approval for the works from the transport authority.

A spokesperson said that residents of the 70-metre street had been requesting improved access through the street, "which had never been completely formed to its actual width," since before 2014. 

"When IM was established in 2018, the local council asked for assistance to carry out the necessary works to make this street more accessible to its residents," a spokesperson said.

He added the works include the widening of between one to 1.6 metres along a 40-metre stretch of the road, increasing the road space by approximately 50 square metres.

"Originally, residents and the local council had requested the street to be widened further, but IM will be using half of the land allocated for this purpose only, to render it more accessible to residents while minimising the impact on the adjacent area, which some residents are using as a private garden." 

The existing boundary wall will be rebuilt in a recessed position. The rest of the area can continue to be used as a garden, and IM will rebuild any existing structures on this government-owned land that may be affected by the works, before resurfacing the street. It will also be upgrading the existing footpaths along the other side of the street, he said.   

"The widening of this street is taking place on government-owned land which is not leased to its current users (as a private garden) since it has been earmarked for the full construction of the street in the past," he added.

Later in the day, IM told Times of Malta it had been informed that "the existing high boundary wall and a small tool shed built on this public site, which were dismantled on Wednesday morning as part of the ongoing works, had been built illegally".

The spokesperson said that following an enforcement notice, a Planning Authority application for this boundary wall submitted by the person encroaching on this public land was refused in 1996. An appeal against this refusal was rejected as well.

PN condemns government's behaviour

In a statement, the Nationalist Party condemned the government's behaviour and encouraged more consultation with residents and local organisations that knew the problems and challenges faced in the area.

This, it said, was yet another example that the Labour government trampled on everyone to get what it wanted.