Il-Kollettiv: planning reforms are being stalled as pre-election gambit

The government is “wilfully stalling” controversial reforms to planning laws to avoid public outcry ahead of the next general election, activist group Il-Kollettiv has said.

In a statement, the group’s secretary Wayne Flask said five weeks had passed since Prime Minister Robert Abela “promised to send us the amended drafts to Bills 143 and 144, yet once again nothing has been forthcoming”.

While the government argues the two bills tabled last summer will help streamline the planning process, critics argue they restrict appeals, grant excessive power to the Planning Authority and introduce amnesties for illegal developments.

“Our last meeting with the Planning Reform Committee was held in November. Despite various public statements announcing the new drafts, we have received nothing”, said Flask.

“It is now evident that the Prime Minister is doing his best to avoid this issue from surfacing in the media again until after the election.”

The bills – which were quietly tabled just before the start of the summer recess – have been heavily criticised by activists and residents’ groups and sparked large protests in Valletta last year, including outside Parliament on the eve of the Budget.

“These laws are an electoral issue which will affect daily life in our towns and villages, where nobody – including those who have invested in their own property – will be protected from the developers’ overdrive,” said Flask.

'We never go to court unless certain'

Attacking the justification for the bills, which the PM has said are essential for “discipline, clarity, and certainty", the activist rejected characterisations of uncertainty in the planning system, saying activists “never go to court unless we have legal certainty of what we’re doing”.

Rather than rejecting legal challenges to planning applications as frivolous, courts were “consistently deciding in our favour”, he said.

“The real anomaly lies in the decisions of the so-called independent tribunal (EPRT), which is led by Joseph Borg, a PA employee”, said Flask, pointing to a recent court decision overturning a planning permit for a massive development on the site of the former Halland hotel.

The court found the tribunal had applied one policy to the site while disregarding another equally applicable one to justify granting the permit.

The court “clearly stated that the tribunal is acting in an arbitrary manner”, he said, adding that it was “obvious that no one can make an objective decision in a case against their own employer”.

“If the MDA is complaining about delays, it’s not because of residents calling for justice in planning, but because of shambolic permits issued by the PA, which go way beyond any policy, and which are consistently vetted by Borg’s puppet tribunal.”

'Shifting goalposts'

Characterising the two bills as not only neutralising democratic rights but placing policies above longstanding Local Plans and the Planning Act itself, Flask pointed to two cases he said had benefitted from amendments to regulations.

In the case of the controversial Mellieħa heights development – a 4,000 square metre, 109-unit apartment block in Mellieħa’s green lung – the activist said an appeal against the project had been prevented from going ahead after Borg declared a “sudden, unannounced amendment” to building height policy.

Meanwhile, a project in Outside Development Zone (ODZ) land in Rabat spearheaded by architect Robert Musumeci, described by Flask as “the author of Bills 143 and 144”, had gone ahead thanks to a legal notice issued in 2023.

“Whoever authored these changes abused their power to shift the goalposts in favour of developers.”

'Delays aren't in residents' interests'

Addressing concerns over delays to planning delays – which have seen the Chamber of Architects advocate a maximum six-month suspension of a permit, while calling for works to stop on sites during that period – Flask said Il-Kollettiv was not against a nine-month limit.

Bill 144, officially titled the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal Act, proposes suspending construction projects for up to 10 months while planning appeals are being decided. At present, work can continue while the project is challenged in court.

“Delays aren’t in the residents’ interests,” said Flask.

He stressed that in addition to “popular discontent” caused by “endless construction, overpopulation and traffic”, the laws contradict the government’s own Vision 2050 economic plan for the country, which promises less construction.

Il-Kollettiv called for the media and civil society to place “greater focus” on the bills, “especially in light of the various distractions that have diluted the public’s attention”.

The statement was endorsed by resident groups from Marsascala, Mellieħa, Qrendi, Sliema, Valletta, Żurrieq and Żejtun.