Sliema and St Julian’s have at least 17 pending enforcement notices against kiosks and restaurants that continue to illegally occupy and encumber public space for their commercial gain, a document tabled in answer to a parliamentary question by 10th district opposition MP Albert Buttigieg shows.
The document tabled in parliament by Public Works and Planning Minister Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi shows that the total number of pending enforcement notices of any kind totalled 19 and 22 for St Julian’s and Sliema respectively.
It also shows how many enforcement notices date back almost a decade, raising questions as to whether the daily fines incurred by the infractions have ever been paid.
Cross-referencing the enforcement notices’ numbers listed in the document with the Planning Authority’s server, The Shift can report that several big-name establishments are listed. These include Black Bull, Hugo’s Terrace and Eeetwell in St Julian’s, and Trattoria del Mare, Il-Fortizza, and Chequers in Sliema, among others.
An area with a particular concentration of infractions is The Strand in Sliema, with no less than six instances of illegal tents, extended awnings or encumbering seating from restaurants. Many of the enforcement notices use similar wording, to the effect of “illegal development with tented structure and change of use from public pavement to commercial area for the placing of tables and chairs”.
A map showing enforcement notices in the Sliema and St Julian’s area outlined in red – Photo: Planning Authority Map Server
While Sliema and St Julian’s may be particular hot spots for the unenforced take-up of public land for commercial use, the same practice can be seen across every locality on the island.
In August 2022, The Shift reported how public land was being taken up by commercial interests in Valletta and found that a mixture of weak enforcement and cutthroat commercialism had gradually normalised illegal outdoor areas.
While the practice had been an issue before the Covid-19 pandemic, as evidenced by the copious pending enforcement notices dating back almost a decade, during the pandemic the Maltese government issued temporary permits allowing restaurants and other dining establishments to extend their outdoor seating areas – ostensibly to counterbalance the reduced seating capacity and space between tables that had been mandated to limit the spread of the virus.
While in June 2022 Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo said these permits had since been revoked, many establishments have nevertheless continued to encumber public land for commercial gain.
The lack of enforcement by the authorities has resulted in what can only be seen as a de facto regularisation of the illegal consumption of public land.
Perhaps parliamentarians should take a day off and explore the mentioned areas – by foot. They can experience the effect of naked greed themselves, first-hand. It is simply the most anti-social of practices. Citizens are forced to navigate between tables and in-out waiters/waitresses – and eventually forced to walk in the road to get from A to B within a normal timescale. Not to mention mothers with prams and old people – the weak and vulnerable pushed off the pavement for the sake of pure greed. How very symbolic of today’s Malta.
That’s why I pity the locals there, for I know the area myself. The last time I was there it wasn’t that worse as it has become ever since. What a difference four years in time can make.
The first time I spent a holiday in Malta, I stayed in Buggiba. Wasn’t quite my cuppa. Then followed the other couple of times with a one week holiday in Malta and I always went to the same place, Sliema. I used to have a stroll from Sliema to St Julians after dinner in the evening, along the promenade. The last time when I went there four years ago, the changes were plain to see. What I have read in the Maltese media ever since was just one article after another reporting how worse the development of this once nice and convenient, even when considering that it was always crowded, went.
Pity to see what is all sacrificed on the altar of commercialisation. I pity the locals even more because they have to get along with all this all year round.
Malta isn’t a destination anymore for people who like it a bit more tranquilly.
The disabled society should sue them for bringing their members in big dangerous situations.
Same thing and worse is happening all along the Bugibba seafront and the seashore.
Malta is gangster land, the brazen grab depending on the political protection one has..take the Sun crest where public land was usurped..what happened..after 41 years, not only we do not take it back and charge a fine, we give them more..this happens all the time..no wonder we have so many multi millionaires..they pay and do what they want, apparently
Sewwa jghamlu la l-poplu joqod ghal kollox. Hu go fik ja poplu gahan.