Two neighbours, a man and the woman owner of the land beneath the Nadur belvedere almost came to blows at the Mepa board hearing this afternoon.
From the words that were exchanged, it would seem both are from Nadur and both have long been living in the area. It would also seem that there have been other issues between the two involving right of passage way through some fields.
The Mepa board was hearing an application by the owner of the land underneath the belvedere to build a wall but this met with opposition by a group of objectors led by MP and former minister and Nadur mayor Chris Said to block approval of a wall that would shut off part of the belvedere from overlooking private property.
The wall was proposed by the owners of the land directly underneath the belvedere to stop people casting rubbish from the belvedere on to their property.
This has been a long-standing issue ever since the Nadur local council under Dr Said put up the belvedere so that people could enjoy the views.
Since that day the local council has been engaged in a battle along many fronts with the owners, not just at Mepa but also at court.
For a long time during the sitting, the issue was whether Mepa should bow down to the court's ruling or whether the courts should accept the Mepa decision.
In fact, right at the beginning, Mepa chairman Vince Cassar asked Dr Ian Stafrace, who represented the owners, why did they come to Mepa when they already have a court ordering them to put up the wall.
Dr Stafrace replied they did not want to begin to build the wall and then be faced with a stop notice by Mepa.
Dr Chris Said argued that this area was specifically allocated for a belvedere by the local plan. If the plea is accepted, it will set a precedent because all those with property under a belvedere will try and block the belvedere. There are already noises in this direction at Vittoriosa.
Dr Stafrace claimed that the local council had got the government to expropriate one metre of the applicant's land but the Lands Department had returned this sliver of land.
Dr Sarah Grech for the objectors said the issue had also been fought at European Courts who had sided with the objectors.
This was when the neighbour, a Mr Camilleri, intervened only to be shouted down by the applicant.
With the hearing getting more heated, board member Timmy Gambin proposed a compromise: the present railings to be pushed back by 1.5 metres so that those on the belvedere cannot throw things into the applicant's land and thus there is no need for a wall to be built.
The two sides agreed to meet and discuss this proposal and the issue was thus pushed back to the first week of September.