The Naxxar local council recently proposed the enactment of a by-law to tackle the rising number of caravans along the coast road, however this has fallen through due to the government stalling on the issue, Naxxar mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami told The Malta Independent.
The by-law, which was to stop caravans and camper vans from parking permanently along the coast road, was unanimously approved by the Naxxar local council earlier this year. The next step in the process was to send it to government Minister Jose Herrera in order for it to be published in the government gazette.
Herrera, she said, stalled the publication of this by-law and at a later date told the Naxxar local council that the topic of caravan sites was to be discussed at a national level rather than at a local government level.
It was recently revealed that a planning application had been filed to create a temporary caravan site in a part of Bahar ic-Caghaq, next to the roundabout near the Maghtab landfill. The planning application is currently going through the Planning Authority process. News reports quoted the government as saying that the site (along with others in elsewhere in Malta) was chosen after public consultation
The mayor said that the council would have wanted a caravan site which was not by the coast, since the council wanted to use the area for sports enthusiasts, windsurfers etc.
Muscat Fenech Adami said that the Naxxar local council was not contacted or considered in the decision making process of creating this “temporary” caravan site. She also said that “the ministry concerned has to be in contact with the local government with issues that are so specific.”
She said that the government uses the term local government only as a buzz word to generate a sense of coherent work flow. “We are never considered in decisions being taken regarding our locality”, she said.
“Obviously we know nothing about the caravan area and what is going to happen. Although we voiced our concerns and released press releases, Minister Jose Herrera didn’t even bother to contact us to start discussing remedies to the situation”, Muscat Fenech Adami said.
She also said that the temporary site leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Will this “temporary” caravan site become permanent?”
All the questions and concerns of the council were voiced to Herrera, Muscat Fenech Adami said. “Unfortunately these questions were never acknowledged, let alone answered”, she said.
“As a council we did all the work required from us to enact the by-law and although we have been voicing our concerns for a long time, the by-law needs to be discussed now and not wait for a national level discussion.”
“To say that the by-law has to be discussed at a national level is totally unfair since it only concerns our locality. Herrera didn’t make any amendments to the by-law, it was just delayed”, Muscat Fenech Adami said.
Muscat Fenech Adami said that her “work is not going to stop here. The council is ready to continue working and we are currently getting legal advice to see where we stand. This will not end here.”