Activists urge voters to send 'strong signal' on environmental concerns

Ten environmental NGOs have warned that Malta’s towns, countryside and natural heritage remain under threat, as they urged voters to use Saturday’s election to push for a change in direction on planning and environmental protection.

In a statement reacting to environmental proposals from parties seeking election in the upcoming general election, the organisations warned that the country was in a situation where “its most cherished natural and historical heritage” was under threat.

The organisations pointed to a proposal to allow artificial lighting until midnight at Dwejra in Gozo, a Dark Sky Heritage Area, and the “outrageous” permit to demolish the British barracks at Fort Chambray, adding that such proposals would be met with “fierce resistance”.

The group urged voters to “send a strong signal about the urgent need for a change of direction for the country in these matters”.

While controversial planning reforms proposed by the government last summer were no longer on the agenda, some aspects of the bills had survived in parts of the Labour Party manifesto, the group said.

And the planning reforms proposed last year appeared to have put Local Plan revision on the agenda.

The group said its members were “fully aware that developers want to destroy the current Local Plans, which are currently protecting residents and constraining building excesses”, while insisting that any revisions deliver improvements rather than making the situation worse.

While the PL had indicated it would hold a consultation on revising the Local Plans, to address ‘contradictions’ and introduce ‘uniformity’ and ‘certainty’, the NGOs warned the issues mentioned by the party “mainly refer to large developers being unable to build what they want”.

They said the PL wanted to adjust the development boundary to address ‘injustices’ for those whose land was not included in the 2006 rationalisation exercise.

The NGOs said they “do not believe that this is a legitimate basis for a Local Plans revision and ask that the Partit Laburista make its intentions clear prior to the coming election”.

The PN, meanwhile, was proposing planning reform based on public and NGO consultation, the group said, noting the Nationalists had announced revising the Local Plans to align them with the “real capacity” of localities.

Describing such a proposal as a “much better basis” from which to start revising the Local Plans, they warned that such suggestions were currently “aspirational goals” that risked developers trying to weaken planning regulations.

Turning to the smaller parties, the group said Momentum has proposed replacing planning reform with a white paper on broader reforms needed by the country, while ADPD had announced its opposition to planning reform, instead indicating it would focus on curbing unsustainable development.

Momentum and the Greens have agreed to revise the Local Plans to reclassify undeveloped rationalisation sites on the outskirts of towns as ODZ (Outside Development Zone) areas, the NGOs noted, adding they had also proposed the measure.

New protections

On new environmental protections, the PL had proposed to update the DC15 guidelines in a bid to improve aesthetics, and create new buffer zones around UCA areas, the group said, noting the latter had already started.

Such measures, in addition to a PL proposal to further restrict development on ODZ land – which NGOs noted had been started by the government in 2020 and later shelved – were “positive proposals”. 

The group said it “sincerely hopes that they will not be derailed once again due to vested interests close to the Partit Laburista”.

Noting PN proposals to entrench the ODZ boundary, with modification only possible with a two-thirds vote in Parliament, and hand the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) veto power over ODZ development, the NGOs called such suggestions “very positive proposals”.

“To implement the latter proposal, it will be important to appoint people of integrity so as to avoid the regulatory capture of ERA by the development lobby”, the NGOs said.

The group indicated their agreement with an ADPD proposal for a new Constitutional right giving people the power to challenge laws and regulations that are destructive to the environment.

They said such a right had become “very important for citizens to defend themselves from the increasingly corrupt governance which has taken hold in the country”.

They said the same right had been proposed by the PN last year, “but was unfortunately not proposed again in this manifesto”.

A Momentum proposal for an independent review of planning decisions that have “disfigured” the country’s built environment also found agreement from the group, which said such a review would uncover failures that had led to the “collapse of the country’s planning system”.

Comino  

Turning to Comino, the group said the PL “has not made any proposals” while the PN had pledged to publish a carrying capacity and open a public consultation on the future of the island.

Momentum has proposed strict regulations for the Natura 2000 site, while ADPD has proposed a total development ban, it noted.

The NGOs said they were “disappointed that despite all their efforts, this election has not seen a consensus around protecting Comino and that a free-for-all by commercial operators could continue in Malta’s most well-preserved Nature 2000 site if things persist as they are.”

The statement was signed by the Ramblers’ Association of Malta, Moviment Graffitti, Friends of the Earth Malta, BirdLife Malta, Din l-Art Ħelwa, Nature Trust Malta, Wirt Għawdex, Għawdix, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar and Front Żgħażagħ għall-Ambjent