NEWS | Wednesday, 18 June 2008

Open-air tables clamp-down: De Marco will accept no abuse

MHRA calls on government for rationalisation

David Darmanin

A number of operators of catering establishments on Sliema front were up in arms last week after the police entered their establishments to physically remove tables and chairs that were placed outside without the necessary permit cover.
While some operators argued that such enforcement should not have taken place at a time when high season is round the corner, Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Mario De Marco stuck to his guns, insisting: “everyone should recognise that there is a process to go through and conditions to abide by, for the sake of law and order and of course fair play.”
A number of caterers claim they have breached the limit covered by their permit because neighbouring competitors have done so irregularly, but without anyone ever stopping them. If competitors are not stopped, one complained, why should others limit themselves in the face of competition?
Others argue that allocations for outside seating are often insufficient, as placing a table for six patrons horizontally could also prove difficult. Some also claim that patrons would at times join tables together, thus trespassing the limit covered by the permit without the license holder’s direct intervention.
Such enforcement comes at a time when bars and cafes would have already predicted their summer sales and invested accordingly. “Now we will probably have to sack staff,” one of the aggrieved operators lamented.
De Marco however, disagrees with this line of reasoning outright, as it is “based on sanctioning a state of illegality. If one had to take this argument across the board it means that government should not take action for instance against a person who illegally occupies a factory and starts operating it, or against a hotelier who illegally occupies public land, or against a person who starts operating an unlicensed casino, or an unlicensed restaurant at that, simply because they are employing people.

“If sales prediction of the restaurant and café owners involved were based on a state of illegality then such operators have a self-inflicted problem. When the operators of catering establishments who deemed fit to apply for a permit to place tables and chairs outside, were granted a permit, they were allocated a precise area of land over which to place such tables and chairs, and therefore they know exactly the limits of their concession, what sales were expected from their concession and the number of employees needed to cater for this concession. People who operate in a state of abuse are putting themselves in a problem. I fail to see why government has to disentangle them from the problem they put themselves in, to the detriment of others who are seriously inconvenienced by this state of abuse.”
While MHRA President Kevin De Cesare has generally agreed with the government’s reasoning, he said: “there should be a discussion between the government and the MHRA on the issue of permits, in order to take the different areas on a case-by-case basis and decide upon the limit to be allotted in accordance to both the requirements of the tourism industry as well as the needs and safety of the general public.”
“The placement of tables and chairs outside should be encouraged by all means, as long as one keeps within the parameters of the law. We never agree with anybody breaking the law,” De Cesare told Business Today,
To justify the timing of the enforcement, De Marco explained: “The MTA, the Sliema Local Council, the Lands Department and the police were receiving various complaints that a number of catering establishments, which fortunately are in a minority, were abusively putting tables and chairs outside on public pavements, either without a permit, or beyond the area allocated to them by the MTA and Lands Department. This type of abuse created inconveniences to various people ranging from pedestrians who were impeded from comfortably walking along a pavement; parents who had to endanger their children’s lives to walk with a pushchair on the road because they could not walk along the pavement anymore; residents who found the access to their front door or garage blocked with tables and chairs; drivers trying to park their car who suddenly find a normal parking slot taken over by tables and chairs; to law-abiding operators of catering establishments who felt they were no longer competing in a level playing field because while they respected their licence conditions, the catering establishment next door to them was not. In the action the authorities took last week, they did not remove any tables and chairs that were within the areas in respect of which licences had been granted. MTA’s policy in this respect has not been changed. MTA and the other authorities only took action to remove those tables and chairs that were either not permitted at all or beyond the area permitted. Moreover they did so only after first verbally asking the respective establishments to remove any infringing tables and chairs a number of weeks ago, then asking them again formally in writing to remove them within two weeks. Unfortunately a number of operators felt they were above the law and thought fit to ignore the verbal and written requests to get themselves in order. Had the operators chosen to abide by the verbal and written request made earlier, enforcement would not have been necessary just before the start of the high season. The timing of the enforcement was therefore brought about by the operators upon themselves, as they chose to ignore repeated requests to bring themselves in order.”
Asked whether the government ever took an initiative to creating a compromise between enabling catering establishments to put tables and chairs outside without too much difficulty while ensuring that passers-by are not as badly affected, De Marco replied: “the issue is not limited to problems of inconvenience to passers-by. It goes beyond that. It includes residents and establishing a level playing field for all operators. Indeed the action was supported not only by the Sliema Local Council but also by representatives of the GRTU. The fact is that any operator who wishes to place tables and chairs on a public area can apply for a permit to do so. This permit is a joint decision by Lands Department and MEPA and is based on criteria related to safety, avoidance of nuisance, vehicles and pedestrian traffic. When a permit is granted an area is defined, over which the operator can place tables and chairs. The process of application has been modified to make it very easy for any applicant, with a fast track process to facilitate a reply to an application as soon as possible. Any operator who wishes to go beyond the permitted footprint has to request permission to the authorities. This will again be evaluated by Lands Department/MEPA and the permit will be either modified as requested, or will stay as original.
“Some people may have difficulty with recognising that there are rules and regulations to be abided by. Others may have a problem with enforcement. I do not, and I believe the law abiding citizen does not have either,” De Marco concluded.