Mepa Reform Bill features new directorate for law enforcement

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The Bill to bring about an extensive reform of Mepa was launched today by the Prime Minister and Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco and is due to be published in the Government Gazette tomorrow.

"This is possibly the biggest reform I have ever been involved in," Dr Gonzi said.

The reform provides, among other changes, that the Development Control Commissions (henceforth known as Environment and Planning Commissions) will be composed of full-time professionals who will not be able to work privately.

The Mepa audit-officer will no longer form part of Mepa but fall under the aegis of the Office of the Ombudsman.

The Mepa board would henceforth be composed of three public officers (an opposed to the current five) and eight independent persons including the chairman. The independent persons would come from NGOs and various other sectors of society including industry and heritage.

Mepa would have four directorates, responsible for environmental protection, development planning, corporate services and enforcement.

The authority would also have a CEO.

In contentious cases - such as building in Outside Development Zones (ODZs) and development in scheduled areas - applications for the sanctioning of building that is developed without a permit will no longer be possible.

Dr Gonzi said there could be no developments in ODZs, but one had to be reasonable. One could not, for example, impose an outright ban on, say, greenhouses or farmers' reservoirs.

Mepa will be introducing a process of pre-screening so that applicants would know where they stand before submitting development applications, reducing the possibility of applications being submitted when it was clear that they would be rejected.

Penalties for infringements are being raised steeply. The daily fine - such as for failing to comply with enforcement notices - is to rise from the current €11.65 to €50. The maximum fine will rise from €2,500 to €50,000 in order to discourage violations of the law.

There are changes to the appeals process, including the possibility of the new Revision Tribunal stopping development until a final appeal decision is taken.

Neighbours are to be directly informed - and not just through site and newspaper notices - when development applications are submitted in their areas.