Nature Trust 'appalled' by application for Lunzjata Valley development

Nature Trust, the environmental NGO, said it was morally appalled that Catherine Galea, outgoing chairman of the Development Control Commission of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, was so "brazen faced" as to submit an application in what was mostly an Outside Development Zone in Lunzjata Valley, Gozo.

But, asked to comment, Mepa said it agreed that an architect with a planning application on which he (or she) had to decide himself (or herself) clearly had a conflict of interest, but in such cases the member has to declare a professional interest and withdraw from the meeting when a decision is about to be taken.

In a statement Mepa said the other members were free to discuss and decide on the application as they deemed fit, and if such an application came up for reconsideration, the architect would be able to defend the application.

Mepa emphasised that members of the DCC were, like Mepa board members, governed by the code of ethics for employees in the public sector.

Mepa also said that the members of the DCC, including the chairman, were paid an honorarium, not a salary, and were not precluded from practising their profession.

It its statement, Nature Trust acknowledged that as an architect by profession the chairman had every right to submit such an application but for years environmental NGOs had urged Mepa to not even consider applications in sites not scheduled for development according to the Structure Plan.

In line with Mepa's recent practice of being tougher on such applications, Nature Trust urged the remaining DCC board members to vote against the application and asked for morally sound behaviour by high-ranking officials.

Nature Trust said this was the latest example of officials in public offices who give citizens a bad example and the country a poor reputation.