It spoke volumes about law enforcement: after 11 years of completely disregarding warnings from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa), an Mgarr importer who turned a section of land he owns into a scrapyard-cum-storage area, put up a strong resistance to police and members of the Mepa direct action team yesterday morning, as they attempted to start clearing the land of the huge amount of material.
From trucks to tractors, scraps of metal, tyres, fork-lifts and even a boat, the scrapyard has long been an eyesore at the edge of its beautiful surroundings, even beyond the 11 years since Mepa first issued enforcement notices.
A Mepa spokesman said that, over the years, the number of vehicles stored and the amount of other material dumped in the “illegal scrapyard” had only increased.
It was not an edifying sight from the wide parvis of the church with the egg-shaped dome: the gaze first took in the boundary wall of the parvis, then the road, a playing field with oleander trees, and then the scrapyard, which intruded rudely on the vision.
Enforcement notices were first issued in 1996 and the Mepa enforcement officer responsible for Mgarr had spoken to the owner, Michael Galea, several times about the matter.
The Mepa direct action team had also been warning Mr Galea that they could turn up at any time to start clearing the scrapyard.
The team finally turned up in Mgarr with a crane at about 6am yesterday, but Mr Galea did not allow them to get anywhere near the entrance to the scrapyard.
A fork-lift and another machine were placed at the entrance, blocking the members of the direct action team from removing any of the machinery and other material from the yard.
The police were forced to arrest Mr Galea, so that the direct action team could get on with its work and at a
certain point, the police also had to intervene to force the driver of one of the machines out of the cabin.
The Mepa spokesman said that the land did not form part of the development zone and, in any event, development in the form of a scrapyard was incompatible with the surroundings.
Mepa staff and police officers spent three hours arguing with Mr Galea before his employees agreed to start moving out some of the machinery themselves and putting them in a warehouse nearby.
As Mepa officials waited at the entrance to the yard, they were ready to confiscate any machinery that would not fit inside Mr Galea’s warehouse. However, they said they preferred trying to calm down the owner and his employees by adopting a peaceful approach.
In fact, while they were explaining the situation to journalists, there was practically no activity in the yard, even though the “operation” had actually started at 9am.