The Nationalist Party on Thursday strongly condemned the Labour Government's "arrogant and illegal" decision to cover the Ta' Qali picnic area with gravel, and appealed to the Planning Authority to take immediate action.

The facts are simple and clear: there is a planning application (PA/08356/24) that is still at the screening stage. No permit has been approved, meaning the public has not been consulted on whether the Ta' Qali picnic area should be surfaced with gravel.

Despite this, the Labour Government chose to proceed with the works on site, in blatant breach of the law because the application (which is not a permit) only refers to a few gravel paths, yet the entire picnic area has been covered with gravel; and concrete structures, intended to serve as toilets, have already been built without any permit and have been in place since at least February 2025, the PN said.

The law is clear: the placing of material on land requires a permit, the PN said. For the Labour Government to carry out works requiring a permit before the application has even been approved is not only arrogant but outright illegal. "The Labour Government has broken rules which every citizen is obliged to follow. Ordinary citizens who do the same are fined or stopped immediately; but when the Labour Government does it, the law is simply ignored," the PN said.

Beyond the fact that the works were carried out without a permit, the Labour Government acted irresponsibly in one of the few remaining green picnic areas where families gather and children play. Instead of protecting what belongs to the public, Labour puts propaganda above all else - before the environment, before the law, and before families. This is a Government that first breaks the rules already in place, and then rewrites them as it pleases.

This abuse did not stop there. "We are now witnessing how the individual at the forefront of this farce is trying to intimidate those who merely raised legitimate questions about it," the PN said, referrring to Jason Micallef's threats of taking court action.

The PN said it is therefore insisting that the Planning Authority must: Investigate these works without delay; Take enforcement action against the illegal gravel surfacing and other unauthorised development; Order the immediate removal of the gravel unlawfully placed in the picnic area; Ensure the site is restored to its original state so that any future application can be properly considered through due process and public consultation; Guarantee that this case will not be ignored simply because it involves the Government.

Maltese families deserve far more than arrogance and chaos, the PN said. While Labour breaks the rules and manipulates the system for its own interests, the Partit Nazzjonalista believes in a planning system that works for the people, protects the environment, and respects communities.