The St Paul’s Bay Local Council was not included in the planning for the Lost & Found festival by the Malta Tourism Authoirty, St Paul’s Bay mayor Anne Marie Fenech said. When contacted by this newsroom to discuss last weekend's festival, she stressed that the organisers did not include the local council in any emails or planning regarding the event.

“Organisers are meant to come to the local council to discuss and plan on how an event is going to take place. When there was the Voomquest World Powerboat Championships, the local council spent six weeks planning beforehand, to make sure everything was well organised. That is how every activity in any locality is to be done.” Fenech said that unfortunately, not all organisers feel the need to inform the local councils.

Fenech explained that although each organiser and business have their own private cleaners and security; there were still council workers who were cleaning up at night after the parties. “It is the establishment’s responsibility to keep their premises and their surroundings clean, at such events, they should even think about including extra litter bins.”

She stressed that one of the biggest issues from the weekend event was the lack of cleanliness and cleaning up after such big parties. “There is a lot of money being made during these events, so they should invest in cleaning entities throughout such activities.” Fenech said that the council has nothing against the parties or the business being brought to the locality, but that the organisers must keep in mind the impact such events have on residents. “We also had some people complaining that they heard music being played past 3am in the morning.”

She stressed that the same issues and complaints come up every year, and that it is important that the organisers also involve the local councils, not just MTA and the police force.

When the newsroom asked the mayor whether the festival goers were breaking the law by wearing scanty clothes in public, she said that such issues are handled by the police authorities and not the council. “If we receive any complaints, we refer them to the police and they handle the issue. There were more complaints online, and if one visits the St. Paul’s Bay community Facebook page, you wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the comments.”

The police are yet to reply to questions sent.