Naxxar Labour club wants outdoor dining area

The Naxxar Labour Party club has presented a planning application to set tables and chairs on a 70 square-metre footpath in Victory Square in Naxxar.

The application foresees the setting of 22 tables in the area in front of the entrance to the Labour Party club and the area near the statue of Our Lady of Victory.

The plans for the application were presented by Dominic Chircop, who is represented by architect William Lewis who is currently the Labour Party’s organising secretary.

Transport Malta has already issued a consent for the application. The Lands Department has been notified of the application through a registered  letter.

Technically any individual can apply for development on public land if he or she informs the Lands Department of his or her intention to do so.  The Lands Department can only decide on whether to allow the development after MEPA issues the permit.

MEPA is currently considering a new policy regulating outside catering establishment. The policy does not set any limits for the placing of chairs and tables in public gardens, public squares, and jetties, adding that any such decisions will be taken on a case-by-case basis. 

Current legislation states that tables and chairs can only occupy a quarter of the width of a road, square or alley but can occupy half the width of a promenade. 

The proposed new policy also obliges all encroachments on public spaces to leave a 1.5-metre passage – the distance required for one person to walk alongside a wheel chair and two persons to walk side by side.