The prime minister has recently stated that the 2006 local plans are outdated, repeating, in a successive interview, the notion that plans drafted 18 years ago cannot reflect today’s realities. It’s what many resident associations and a couple of NGOs have been saying all along. The motivations, however, are entirely different.

The government has studiously avoided discussing the local plans. As late as last year, for example, Labour MPs and even opposition leader Bernard Grech went on to disappoint Żurrieq residents and the entire fifth district by brusquely and uncompromisingly stating that the local plans cannot be changed.

Fast forward to November 2024, and the same people are saying the exact opposite. Malta’s local plans “don’t meet today’s realities,” Robert Abela told developers recently, admitting the time may soon be ripe for local plans to be revised.

The PN said it wants a planning system that aims to build stronger communities rather than push economic development at the expense of quality of life.

It’s not that either big party has taken notice of the anger in various towns at the effects of construction on the residents’ quality of life. Nor is it the sudden resurgence of pro-environment values on the parliamentary benches.

It comes as a result of the Villa Rosa debacle. The local plans drafted in 2006 limit the height of such developments in the area. There’s a lot of misinformation bandied about these local plans, and politicians are fully responsible for this.

In some places, the local plans have actually served to protect the townscapes; it was the introduction of secondary, loophole-ridden policies such as the nefarious DC15 which led to unsightly buildings sprouting around the edge of many towns, even on the border of UCAs. In many cases, historical viewpoints and buildings have been permanently ruined.

Another main aspect of the local plans which has come under fire is the rationalisation scheme, which saw thousands of hectares of agricultural land become available for development in 2016, 10 years after the local plans became law.

The result of this scheme, besides the spike in construction, was a speculative exercise which sees a few leading developers turn huge profits off agricultural land bought for cheap, in some cases, even before the local plans were published.

Rationalisation zones are a main source of chagrin for residents of various towns.

One such application in Nigret, sees the author of the same local plans, former PN minister George Pullicino, represent the developer in the rezoning of a vast stretch of once-ODZ land.

It is but one of over a dozen rationalisation zones around Żurrieq, and part of a wider scheme to transform the region into a single built-up agglomerate, with the effective destruction of the green belt.

The opposition is playing the same game but at a different table, trying to ingratiate itself with the development lobby.

Residents around Malta are now resigned to seeking support from independent local councillors or mayors who put their towns before the party allegiance.

Last July, NGO Il-Kollettiv, together with 13 resident associations, published a set of proposals for an overhaul of the planning laws.

These proposals have, conveniently, been ignored by the prime minister and the planning minister. 

Environmental NGOs are right to declare that political parties have to choose between working for the people, or for the developers.

Will Malta be subjected to the “hundred years of construction” or finally face reprieve from the onslaught?

Planning is a political game, and the big players are on the same side, and they are up against their own electorate.