On Monday 27th October 2008, a coalition of environmental NGOs presented the Prime Minister with a report on MEPA reform. The document was drawn up by Catherine Polidano on behalf of Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth Malta, the Gaia Foundation, the Malta Organic Agriculture Movement, the Ramblers Association, and the Save Wied Garnaw Action Group. The Light Pollution Awareness Group has also endorsed the document.
The NGOs supporting this document maintain that the current planning process urgently needs reform. It is simply unworthy of a member state of the European Union in the 21st century. The report makes 74 recommendations aimed at restoring credibility to Malta’s development planning system and making development more sustainable in the interest of current and future generations.
Among other things the report recommends that policies governing development outside the development zone and in other protected areas should be made legally binding. It should no longer be possible for projects to receive approval in blatant contravention of such policies. They should be overridden only in exceptional cases where a proposed development is of critical national importance and is approved by Parliament with a two-thirds majority.
The report also recommends that MEPA should start pre-screening development applications against the policies that are made legally binding. Applications that are found to contravene such policies should normally be rejected without going through the full consideration process. This would save time and money both for MEPA and for applicants, and it would go a long way to restoring faith in the development planning process.
Development planning decisions often fail to give sufficient weight to environmental considerations because MEPA’s Environment Directorate is weak and has a limited role. The report recommends that the Directorate should be strengthened and given a greater say in decision-making. To eliminate overlap and fragmentation, the Malta Resources Authority should be incorporated within the Environment Directorate.
Existing legal provisions should also be better utilised. Currently, developers who ignore MEPA enforcement notices can be fined or even imprisoned. However, these legal provisions have hardly ever been used even though there are over 6,000 illegal developments bearing enforcement notices.
Furthermore, in 2001 the law was amended to permit the imposition of a daily fine against developers who ignore enforcement notices. However, this amendment was never brought into force. The report recommends that the amendment should be brought into force forthwith and, indeed, that the daily fine should be increased.
To eliminate conflicts of interest, the report recommends that members of MEPA boards should be barred from undertaking work which would conflict with their role as board members. Members of the Development Control Commission and the Planning Appeals Board should also be appointed on a full-time basis.
Development planning procedures also need to be improved. MEPA should ensure that development applications conform to sanitary laws and uphold third-party rights. The planning appeals process should be overhauled to make it less legalistic and to eliminate unnecessary deferrals.
Enforcement is vital, and to make this task more manageable the report recommends that district management teams be set up to monitor specific green areas and urban conservation areas. These teams would initiate immediate remedial action against illegal developments.
Finally, the report makes various recommendations aimed at strengthening public participation in the development planning process. Among other things it proposes that neighbours should be directly informed about developments that might affect them, and development applications should be given more prominent publicity particularly if they relate to protected areas. The public should also be better informed about their rights.
The NGOs which support this document are encouraged by the Government’s willingness to reform MEPA. They will continue to contribute to the reform in the hope that it will put the citizen and the environment at the heart of development planning.