administrative court, on Friday ruled that works carried out on the street outside the British Embassy in Athens to improve security were illegal, since permission was given by an authority not competent to provide it.
The embassy paid to install barriers and also reduced the width of Plutarchou Street to roughly half, leaving only one lane outside the embassy, obtaining permission to do this from the central Athens municipality.
According to the court, permission for the works should properly have been obtained from the ministries of Environment, Town Planning and Public Works, Transport and Communications and Public Order. It therefore ruled that the decision made by the Athens municipal council be revoked as invalid since it was given by an authority not competent to provide it.
The case against the decision had been filed by a lawyer, formerly a justice ministry general secretary, with an office on Plutarchou Street, an archmandrite representing the Agios Nikolaos Church next to the Embassy and the company "Athens Car Parking".
source: ANA-MPA
