Professionals in urban planning are finding it difficult to express technical opinions that are seen to be critical or divergent from the status quo, the Malta Chamber of Planners (MaCP) said.

In a statement released to mark World Town Planning Day, celebrated on Friday, MaCP said that on an occasion where the ideals of community planning should be recognised, in Malta this was a contradiction in terms.

“When everything is deemed to be an opinion and when different scientific findings reach the same conclusions are looked upon with scepticism, planners need to get any wins that they can get.  Instead of thinking big sometimes it is better to achieve small wins for their local communities,” they said.

The MaCP continued that despite planning professionals’ working for the common good, the outcome of such work depended on the integrity of others. Planning in a country the size of Malta, they said, did not always have the luxury of learning from its mistakes.

The Structure Plan for the Maltese Islands, drafted 30 years ago to improve quality of life, had not given the expected results, as evidenced by the transformation and the degradation of certain areas, the Chamber said.

“Was it a planning disaster or a result of political tinkering and lobbying that distracted from the original goals and objectives?” MaCP asked.