MPs will skirt court ruling to close down Mosta fireworks factory and farmers are unhappy about it

Farmers and residents in the outskirts of Mosta are frustrated that a court ruling in their favour to close down a fireworks factory risks being ignored by Parliament.

In a landmark decision, the Court of Appeal ruled on 26 January that the St Mary Mosta fireworks factory in Zebbiegh, limits of Mosta, had to close down because it did not respect the safety distance from a public road.

But Parliament is expected to change the law and amend the definition of public road to sidestep the court ruling, which would have had ramifications for other fireworks factories. The debate is on tonight's agenda of the House.

Farmers and residents who spoke to MaltaToday said they could not understand how MPs on both sides of the House were reluctant to see the court ruling being implemented.

“This case has been dragging on for 29 years and after finally getting a court ruling in our favour, Parliament is going to change the goalposts… this is an abuse of power and very unfair on us,” they said.

The case was originally filed by farmers in 1989.

In their court application, they argued that the fireworks factory, belonging to the St Mary band club of Mosta, did not respect the 183-metre safety distance from a public road.

The road in question is a country lane, which connects the hamlets of Bidnija and Wardija to Mosta. It is regularly used by farmers and commuters.

The case was decided in favour of the complainants in 2013 but the authorities and the band club appealed.

The final ruling deemed the factory to have been built in breach of the Explosives Ordnance, which lays down the minimum safety distance, and ordered the withdrawal of the licence.

“Just after the court ruling, operations at the fireworks factory stopped but they restarted after Justice Minister Owen Bonnici spoke of government’s intention to change the law,” one of the complainants told MaltaToday.

Pyrotechnics does not fall in Bonnici’s portfolio, however, when asked by MaltaToday last week about the matter, he said that Cabinet agreed to propose amendments to the law. Bonnici described the court ruling a matter of interpretation.

“The court interpreted the meaning of a road one way, while there could be other interpretations,” Bonnici said. “We always respect the court decisions, but in this case, I think there is room for legislative intervention to solve the issue.”

The farmers and residents last week filed a judicial letter, giving the Police Commissioner and the Planning Authority a week to implement the court ruling. The ultimatum expires this week.

“This will not stop here and we will leave no stone unturned. We are ready to pursue this matter legally and if need be take it all the way up to the European Court of Human Rights because it is unfair that a court sentence decided on appeal gets to be ignored by MPs,” MaltaToday was told.

They insisted the country lane in question was regularly used not only by people who work their fields but commuters who travel through the area to get to the hamlets in the area.

What does the law say

• A fireworks factory must be situated 183 metres from any inhabited place, any street which may be used regularly for the passage of cars, or “any other street within 183m of which it would not be advisable, in the opinion of the Commissioner of Police, after consultation with the Director of Public Works, to establish such a factory”.
• Inhabited place is defined as an area where at least 100 people live

What the court decided

• The country lane in question was a street regularly used for the passage of cars by farmers and so fell within the definition of the law
• The court refuted the argument made by the band club and Police Commissioner that the country lane was not frequently used, insisting the law spoke of ‘regular use’ and not 'frequent use'