The Planning Authority applies its rules rigidly with the common citizen but is "super flexible" when it comes to the big and powerful developers, the Green Party said on Saturday.

It was reacting to Court of Appeal decision delivered this past week confirming the Planning Authority repeatedly ignores its own planning rules. 

Planning must place people at the centre of decision-making and must come before profit and power, the party stressed.

At a press conference, ADPD deputy chairperson Sandra Gauci said the PA lacks diligence and consistency.

She recalled a Planning Authority board member had been outed for his involvement in a real estate agency, highlighting the obvious conflict of interest that the authority closed its eyes to.

Also questionable was a private jet being sent to Sicily to ferry back a board member to ensure the DB development in Pembroke was approved.

These manoeuvres, she said, brought the entire planning process into disrepute and would not easily be forgotten.

It showed the authority was “ready to bend over backwards, almost without limits” when it came to well-known speculators while inflexible with common citizens, causing widespread distrust in the authority.

ADPD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo referred to two decisions by the court of appeals to nullify decisions taken by the Planning Authority, identifying the fact the authority repeatedly ignored its own rules as a key problem.