Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1037099
NEWS 6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 OCTOBER 2018 JAMES DEBONO ENFORCEMENT notices tend to be the planning regu- lator's final action to fix abus- es carried out by planning in- fringements. But a controversial decision in 2015 to allow petitions ask- ing for the reversal of these decisions, is now in full swing. So far, just 17 citizens have availed themselves of this con- troversial legal notice – issued without public consultation – which gives the Planning Au- thority's appeals tribunal, the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal, the power to reduce hefty enforcement fines imposed on a daily basis. An Armier "squatter" who rebuilt his illegal wooden boat- house in stone – also illegally – after it was damaged in the freak incident of a kite-surfer who died after he crashed into its metal roof, had his stagger- ing €12,650 fine reduced to a paltry €1,012. Not a bad deal. The legal notice states that the PA can consider written requests from persons served with daily fines to pay a "compro- mise fine" instead. The lowest daily fine is set at €2 and the highest is capped at €50 per day. Any such request must specify "the impelling reason" why the penalty established by law must not be paid as well as "the manner in which the fine" is to be changed. So far only 17 citizens have availed themselves of the con- troversial rules, with EPRT deciding on 15 cases, half of which took place only last Tuesday. Fines can be reduced on "humanitarian" grounds or because the fines are deemed to lack a sense of proportion when compared to the illegal- ity in question. But unlike other decisions taken by the tribunal, deci- sions in these cases are not uploaded on the Tribunal's website. MaltaToday only be- came aware of these petitions upon seeing them listed on the tribunal's agenda. A spokesperson for the tribu- nal said the website currently does not offer this facility but decisions regarding petitions can be physically collected from its office. A copy of deci- sions taken this week was sent to MaltaToday. In six cases the fines were substantially reduced. In total €102,910 in planning fines at- tributed to all seven planning infringements were reduced to €12,689. Only one petition involving the blatant illegality of constructing rooms and a swimming pool in the coun- tryside, was entirely rejected. One of the cases involved the demolition and reconstruc- tion of an illegal boathouse set on government land in Armier. The boathouse was originally built in wood and had suffered damage from an accident in 2007 in which a Bulgarian kite-surfer died after hitting the corrugated metal roof of the illegal boathouse. The boathouse was reconstructed in bricks seven years later. In 2014 the PA issued an en- forcement order accompanied by daily fines which had accu- mulated to €12,650. The fine has now been re- duced to €1,012 because ac- cording to the tribunal, the enforcement in question was against the reconstruction of the boathouse and not against the illegality of the original boathouse. In the petition the owner claimed that the boathouse was among the first cluster to be built in the area and was connected to the electric- ity grid by an officially sanc- tioned meter. The owner claims that he had not built the boathouse immediately after the inci- dent, as like other boathouse owners he had been waiting for the results of discussions with government on the regu- larisation of the illegal boat- houses. Two other cases which in- volved the reduction of fines were related to the laying of tables and chairs on pave- ments in Gzira and Valletta. The owner of the Black Gold establishment in Gzira was served with an enforcement order for illegally extending the pavement onto the public road. Although the illegality was later regularised by the Planning Authority, the per- mit could not be issued until the owner paid his accumu- lated daily fines which had reached the sum of €5,811. The Tribunal decided to re- duce the fine to €1,937 in view of the fact that the pave- ment extension was limited to 14sq.m. Also benefitting from a €6,000 reduction in fine was Moos, a Turkish restaurant in Valletta, due to the relatively small area taken by the chairs and tables. The most substantial reduc- tion was made to the benefit of the Mdina local council, which had been hit by an en- forcement order after cover- ing soil with gravel in part of Howard Gardens. The fine was reduced from a staggering €34,340 to €2,426 because the illegality did not result in any damage to the archaeologi- cally protected site. Another substantial adjust- ment was made to a stagger- ing €31,000 fine against a breach in height policies in Mellieha through the erection of a stairwell and an addition- al floor. The fine was reduced to €3,890 because the area in- volved amounted to less than 20sq.m. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt MINISTRY FOR HEALTH PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIAT FOR EUROPEAN FUNDS AND SOCIAL DIALOGUE PUBLIC HEALTH IS YOUR GUARANTEE. TAKE PART. NATIONAL SURVEY ON THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH PROJECT PART-FINANCED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION Petitions for reduced fines How tribunal decreased daily fines imposed by the Planning Authority in seven cases decided on 2 October Nature of illegality Original fine Compromise fine Rebuilding of Armier Boathouse €12,650 €1,012 Additional floor above penthouse level €31,161 €3,890 ODZ rooms and swimming pool €8,450 Petition denied Replacement of roof of illegal ODZ boathouse €3,062 €612 Illegal works by Mdina council €34,340 €2,426 Chairs and tables by Valletta restaurant €8,436 €2,812 Widening of pavement, Gzira €5,811 €1,937 Tribunal waives €90,000 in fines on 'petitions' over infringements