The "unsightly tented structures" illegally set up by three catering establishments in a promiment square around the area of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta have been removed, the planning authority said on Friday.

The PA said its enforcement officials had given the establishment a deadline, after which they would have enforced direct action.

In December Times of Malta reported that several tented structures had cropped up in Valletta after the first cold winter spell, some of them obscuring the façade of St John’s Co-Cathedral and other typical features of the capital's architecture.

Photo: Planning Authority

In a statement on Friday the PA said that earlier this year all three establishments were slapped with an enforcement notice and a daily fine for having set up illegal ‘tented’ structures outside their catering outlets and for having increased tables and chairs over the permitted number and footprint.

The authority pledged to continue monitoring the sites to ensure compliance with the law.     

Meanwhile, no enforcement action can yet be taken about Is-Suq tal-Belt, whose canopies were slapped with enforcement on October 30 last year, until the appeal is decided by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal. 

Photo: Planning Authority

Photo: Planning Authority