Xaghra council served with enforcement notice

The Xaghra council was served with an enforcement order for illegally widening an existing passage in an area off Triq il-Kartoll which lies outside the development zone.

The works included the building of boundary walls with franka stone and the surfacing of the passage with concrete.

Contacted by MaltaToday, Xaghra mayor Joe Cordina explained that the council was asked by farmers to repair an existing countryside lane.

Cordina claims that a concrete passage already existed but parts of it had fallen in disrepair. The mayor announced that a planning application will be presented to conduct the necessary works legally.

The newly approved policy on rural development effectively legalises concrete access paths from roads to arable land holdings built prior to May 2004. But the same policy stipulates that new access paths must be built in a “suitable material respecting the rural character”.