The Planning Authority has set the target to decide most full development applications within 100 days, Parliamentary Secretary Deborah Schembri said in Parliament yesterday.

Opening the debate on the Planning Authority’s annual estimates, Dr Schembri explained that the authority will refund half the planning fee when it fails to meet the 100-day deadline.

Other legislative instruments were being introduced to streamline the procedures and update the legal requirements in accordance with current realities and expectations, while removing arbitrary discretion as far as possible.

A summary procedure will also be introduced whereby applications conforming to policy will be determined within 20 days and without the initial screening.

Dr Schembri elaborated on the PA’s accomplishments last year, including the approval of the Strategic Plan for Environment and Development (SPED) in July.

“This landmark achievement shifted strategic planning from the traditional land use planning to a more holistic spatial planning approach.”

The Development Control Design Policy 2015 was concluded, setting a new direction for architectural design policy and a collective commitment towards good design in the built environment.

Three key policies regulating fuel service stations, cemeteries and childcare facilities were published last year.

Significant steps were taken towards the development of a National Geographic Information System to centralise and make available the vast data found at various government departments, agencies and authorities.

Also, €800,000 from the Urban Improvement Fund and the Environment Initiative Partnership Programme were disbursed as support projects proposed by local councils, heritage organisations and the central government.

Dr Marthese Portelli, shadow minister for the environment, remarked that the SPED would could not be properly used without the local plans having yet been concluded, although they were due by June 2015.

“This is leading to a dangerous situation, where some developers are developing projects in line with the current local plans, while others are putting forward proposals in line with what they would like to see included in the local plans.”

The Planning Authority’s key challenge is to be an independent and autonomous entity in real terms and deciding only in line with the national interest, rather than a ministerial extension, Dr Portelli insisted.

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