PA defends enforcement notice issued against Għargħur ‘rock garden’

The Planning Authority has defended its decision to issue an enforcement order of “illegal” structures built by a rock gardener at Għargħur, saying that the person responsible had agreed to remove the structures “voluntarily.”

Public outcry ensued after Ronnie Gauci was ordered to remove a number of rock structures he had built at the area known as Top of the World.

According to some reports, the PA had also ordered him to remove plants and a niche located close by.

In a Facebook post, the PA said it had “acted within its remit when it asked the contravenor to remove the structures he was building on public land without permission.”

The area in question, along Triq Għaxqet l-Għajn limits of Għargħur, is protected for its high landscape value, it said.

“The structures consisting of stones and concrete bricks cemented together, and a fishpond are being removed by the contravenor voluntarily.”

The niche located in the same area will remain untouched, the PA added.

The PA’s decision has led to widespread criticism, with many saying that the authority had flexed its muscles against an individual who sought only to beautify the area while at the same time allowing massive unsightly projects all around the country.

The Planning Authority stated that the development is illegal.

The man who made it his daily vocation to take care of the area – which was previously effectively a dump – was threatened with a €50,000 fine if he does not destroy his creation immediately.

Gauci was forced to smash up the stone structures and uproot the flowers and plants that he had tended to for years.

Gauci was slapped with a warning from the PA last month about “structures without permits”, demanding that the “illegal development” be halted.

One social media post which was shared by over 500 people on Thursday lamented how the PA had ordered Gauci to demolish his work because “he used soil instead of concrete, because he is a common man not a contractor, because he put the interest of the community before his, because he put his money into Għargħur’s Top of the World instead of a secret offshore account”.

The PA, the post reads, had a found a “sacrificial lamb.”

Over 100 commenters shared their disbelief at the news, with one person saying that the PA should be “embarrassed” and another saying that this country has truly “sold its soul to the devil.”

Others lamented at how the PA had failed to force the destruction of other illegal developments – with an illegal zoo, the Montekristo estates, and the villages of caravans and boathouses that adorn part of the Maltese coastline all being cited as such examples.

Another noted how the government roads agency Infrastructure Malta could carry out projects without permits and yet because this man has carried out a small project to be enjoyed by the public, he ended up as a “victim of the authorities.”