St Paul's Bay residents launch petition demanding better locality

Residents of St Paul's Bay have launched a petition via the Moviment Graffitti website demanding a better locality in light of numerous issues plaguing the region, namely uncollected waste. 220 people have already signed.

The residents have compiled the petition with a list of demands to be presented to the local council with the assistance of NGO Moviment Graffitti.

Speaking to MaltaToday, St Paul's Bay Mayor Alfred Grima said that he agreed wholeheartedly with the residents. "Honestly, I agree 100% with what they're saying. You have to be blind to not see the problems in this locality," he said.

He did add, however, that the local councillors met for the first time as an executive body on Monday, just a day ago, and that one can't expect any miracles. At the last local council elections the Labour Party won a majority, winning the council from the previous Nationalist administration.

"We already came to some agreements on the way forward and residents can expect serious measures in the coming weeks. We appreciate, however, that the residents understand that we need some time," Grima said.

The waste disposal issue has received significant media coverage in the past few weeks with footage showing rats boldly roaming the streets in the morning, and piles of uncollected rubbish. The residents are demanding more frequent garbage collection to handle the amount of refuse being generated. Also highlighted is the importance of enforcement of garbage collection through green street wardens, use of CCTVs in hotspots, and daily street cleaning to ensure that all garbage is removed.

The residents are demanding enforcement on businesses using the public waste system, more bins and skips around the locality and for fines generated to be utilized by the Council for betterment projects.

Moviment Graffitti said in a statement that residents have also complained on the issue of construction sites in the area. "Residents have been voicing their concerns since this is directly impacting their day-to-day life, especially when considering that 520 permits were granted in this locality alone," the NGO statement read.

The residents are demanding that pavements must be left accessible to the public even during construction work and any pavements debilitated by construction work must be fixed by the developer within a few days. They're also calling for Planning Authority Enforcement Officers to be on site to ensure that safety conditions are adhered to.

The residents have said that if the demands are not met within a reasonable timeframe, further actions will be planned to demand a better locality.