The Planning Authority has started removing illegal billboards after their owners ignored enforcement notices issued last month, a spokesperson has confirmed.

Several illegal billboards were served with ‘cease and desist’ notices by the PA shortly after the publication of a controversial legal notice. The target deadline had been set for 5 May.

The PA spokesperson said works have started to clear illegal billboards along two major arterial roads - the Mriehel Bypass (Birkirkara/Qormi) and Triq Aldo Moro, Marsa. 

“During the operation, the Authority directly removed 12 illegal billboards while the remaining 19 illegal structures, which the Authority had also targeted to remove within these areas, were eventually taken away by the offenders themselves. The removal of these billboards is being carried out at the expense of the respective offenders.”

Officers from the PA’s Enforcement Directorate were assisted by Transport Malta enforcement officers and the Police’s Administrative Law Enforcement section. The billboards were taken down at night, so as to cause minimal inconvenience to motorists.

“The new “Billboards and Advertisements Regulations”, which took effect early last month through Legal Notice 103 of 2016, provide certainty in determining which billboards are legal or illegal. During the month of April 2016, the Authority issued enforcement notices against more than 250 illegal billboards.  More than 100 of these illegal billboards have already been removed by their respective owners.

The Authority will continue to remove the remaining illegal billboards in the coming days. The owners of the illegal billboards are urged to comply with the requirements of the enforcement notices served on them so as to avoid the payment of the expenses incurred by the Authority in carrying out these direct actions,” the spokesperson said.