Officers from the Enforcement Directorate of the Planning Authority, early this morning, carried out a direct action operation at a large illegal scrapyard in an ODZ area, limits of Siġġiewi. The authority carried out this operation after the site occupier was warned, on several occasions, to fully abide by the enforcement notice and clear out the site.
During the operation, the Authority removed scrap material which had been illegally dumped in this makeshift scrapyard. The site was the subject of three previous direct action operations, two in 2006 and another one in late 2015.
Given the size of the site, the Authority had also come to an agreement whereby the contravenor would remove the illegal scrap in phases, over a period of time. Following a number of monitoring inspections, over the past weeks, the Authority observed that the contravenor was defying the agreement and taking in more material into the yard.
The material removed from the site, which covers an area of over 3,700m2, consisted mainly of abandoned vehicles and other related scrap.
During the ongoing operations, members of the Police Administrative Law Enforcement Section had to intervene on a number of occassions to allow the direct action operation to continue, the Planning Authority said.