The planning ministry is set to propose a new law that will suspend planning applications until the entire appeals process has been concluded.
This would mean that when a planning application is disputed at the planning appeals tribunal or even the Court of Appeal, construction will not be allowed to go forward until these appeals are concluded.
The news comes just one day before a coalition of NGOs were set to hold a demonstration in front of the Office of the Prime Minister demanding urgent action after the Planning Authority sanctioned a development in Sannat that had been declared illegal on appeal.
In a press release on Friday, the Planning Ministry said that it had been working on revising the laws regulating appeals in the planning process.
"This revision of the present law will ensure that there is no construction in cases where the permit is under appeal," Minister Clint Camilleri said.
"Aside from this, the revision will also ensure that the appeals process will be expedited and enable decisions to be taken in the shortest time possible, to make the process more just for all."
Earlier this week a PA decision to sanction a Joseph Portelli-linked development in Sannat sparked uproar, as the Court of Appeals had ordered the permit be revoked in March.
The sanctioning is linked to the development of apartment blocks with pools in rural Gozo which was proposed in two different applications in 2020 and 2021.
Activists had insisted the applications could not be judged singularly and in a vacuum, as they formed part of an attempt to fragment a mega-development to avoid the scrutiny such a large project would require.
The court noted that the approved pool and penthouse floor level should not have been approved, and the permit for this part was revoked.
However, by then both the pool and the penthouses had been constructed and an application (PA/03869/24) to sanction two of the illegal penthouses was filed by Tarlochan Singh.
Independent politician Arnold Cassola has asked the Ombudsman to investigate the sanctioning, while Din L-Art Ħelwa has appealed the sanctioning application.
A group of 19 environmental NGOs and residents groups were set to hold a press conference in front of Castille on Saturday, calling on the prime minister to address planning shortcomings that allow whole buildings to be constructed even while the permits that regulate the are still under appeal.