The turnover of the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal - which hears appeals from Mepa decisions - is higher than that of the two former appeal boards combined, the Secretariat for Tourism and the Environment said this evening.

It was reacting to a statement issued in the morning by PL spokesman Roderick Galdes, who said the list of pending cases before the tribunal was getting longer.

Mr Galdes said the tribunal already has a backlog of cases going back nine months. As had been expected, the removal of the reconsideration procedure before the Mepa boards had caused the number of appeals filed at the tribunal to rise drastically, he said,  but the tribunal was ill-equipped to deal with them.

Mr Galdes also observed that the Appeals Board has 70 cases which have been pending for two years, even though cases were supposed to be decided within six months.

The members of the tribunal and the Mepa boards were today paid handsomely, and the people therefore rightly expected greater efficiency, Mr Galdes said, adding that it was  worrying that, a year after the Mepa reform, the decision-making process had slowed down and problems had increased. The people, who were paying higher tariffs, expected better.

In its reaction, the secretariat said  the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal was constituted in January. Contrary to previous appeal boards, it was formed of full-time members, ensuring that there was consistency in its decisions.

The tribunal had so far decided 220 cases and another 62 cases were expected to be decided by the end of next month.

A further 370 cases would be decided by the first half of next year.

The turnover, it said, was higher than under the the old system, even when the output of the two former appeals board was combined.

However more would be done so that cases could be decided more quickly. The government was considering a number of proposals in this regard.

As for the cases left over from the old appeal boards, the secretariat said it had been agreed that those cases put off for sentence would be decided within six months of the new tribunal being formed. . That was what had been done in the case of the board presided  Dr Ian Spiteri Bailey while the board presided by Dr Robert Tufigno would conclude  its cases by the end of this year. The board had been delayed by the resignation of a member and the need to replace him.

The secretariat said the reform process was strengthening Mepa and had led to greater transparency, consistency and accountability.

The Opposition, however, was continuing to play for the gallery.