Last month, 20 or so environmental NGOs held a protest on Castille steps in outrage at the Planning Authority’s mocking and abusive approval in July of two illegal penthouses in Gozo, constructed by one of Joseph Portelli’s gang. A Court of Appeal judgment in March 2024 had deemed these penthouses to be illegal.

The scheming Planning Authority has effectively undermined the rule of law. Immediately after the demonstration on Castille steps, the NGOs requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Robert Abela and the Minister for Planning, Clint Camilleri. Until the writing of this piece, no indication for a tentative meeting has been forthcoming from either Castille or the ministry, despite the reminders.

Both the prime minister and the planning minister had publicly announced the cabinet’s decision to amend the planning laws to make them more equitable and to restrain developers from commencing construction works before the planning process is concluded.

Make no mistake: it is becoming increasingly clear that these pronouncements were made solely to pay lip service to the widespread call from the ever-growing thousands of betrayed constituents; betrayed to a clique of speculators with the blessing and collusion of the ‘Scheming Authority’. If this is not the case, then what is holding up the prime minister from having the planning laws amended? What is preventing the prime minister and planning minister from agreeing to meet the NGOs to discuss the necessary changes?

Judging from a worrying newspaper report last week quoting an anonymous senior “government source”, it seems that our ministers’ time is being spent discussing ways of undermining the planning laws even further. Rather than addressing the fact that the rule of law has been destabilised, the report basically said that the government would like to reform the planning laws “to allow developments to proceed in a way that reflects the real needs of the present day… and to ensure that the spirit of the most recent policies prevails”.

Whose needs are these? And who will interpret the “spirit” of the most recent policies? In any case, which are the most recent policies that ought to prevail? You are probably wondering how they are planning to implement these reforms: they are trying to do this by simply dismantling the Local Plans and portraying this exercise, through snippets in the press, as progress.

The Local Plans provide a framework within which development applications are assessed by the Planning Authority. Among many other areas of focus, the Local Plans incorporate maps showing the maximum number of allowable storeys for all areas within development zones in Malta and Gozo. These documents are better known as ‘height-limitation’ maps but it is essential to understand that the maps refer to the allowable number of floors and not to an actual height in metres. This is what they are trying to change.

The Local Plans and subsequent height limitations were formulated after thorough studies of our built and natural environment and these took years to be established. The height limitations entrenched in these Local Plans are not arbitrary heights. They reflect the contexts of particular neighbourhoods, the prevalent number of floors in a block, the proportions of the facades and the intensity of the activities there.

Do not be misled by blanket declarations that the “height” measured in metres (and not number of floors) will remain unchanged by some new policy. The actual building height alone does not reflect the rhythm of a streetscape or the architectural features of a block, whereas the number of floors does.

An increase in the number of storeys will almost certainly disrupt the rhythm of an existing streetscape, its doorways, windows, balconies, and will most definitely increase the intensity of activities, the density of the neighbourhood and place additional pressures on the infrastructure.

What is holding up the prime minister from having the planning laws amended?- Patrick Calleja

Don’t be taken in by declarations that the Local Plans are outdated. There is and can be no viable and realistic alternative to the Local Plans for the foreseeable future.

What is slowly being unveiled is none other than a more unrestrained free-for-all environment, dominated by unscrupulous developers and ever-grasping puppeteers, with policies designed to allow and encourage hideous pencil block developments all over Malta and Gozo.

It was with good reason that when the Development Planning Act 1992 was enacted it gave precedence to the Local Plans over other policies and guidelines. And it was with good reason too that the Local Pans can only be changed after a lengthy consultative and review process that would eventually have to be approved by our parliament. Because of this, the ‘Scheming Authority’ is, in the meantime, trying to bypass and overcome this lengthy process, desperately conspiring to manipulate the documents governing the interpretation of the Local Plans! Yet another unethical procedure.

The “government source” referred to earlier was quoted as saying that “the Local Plans no longer reflect the realities of Malta’s current development landscape”. Clearly, there are many realities and hidden hands behind these orchestrated manoeuvres.

The anonymous government source would also have you believe that some NGOs are being “weaponised” by certain commercial entities to obstruct developments of their competitors. This unsubstantiated allegation, echoed by the government source, was first made by the Malta Developers Association boss Michael Stivala. This is so ludicrous that it is not surprising that the source wished to remain anonymous! Or, perhaps, is it because the source has in fact been weaponised to dismantle the Local Plans? It’s the sort of outrageous feline assertion that we witnessed in the recent US presidential debate.

Chapter 2, section 9 of our constitution clearly identifies the state’s responsibility to safeguard our environment, which includes the built environment, and the historic patrimony of the nation. This declaration of principles, however, does not go as far as to allow its enforceability in a court of law, thus creating a significant void. 

Fortunately, numerous environmental NGOs and fast-growing numbers of residents’ associations, spurred by the degradation of our built and natural environment, are stepping in to fill this void. And we are here to stay, weaponised by our moral obligations to future generations.

We eNGOs eagerly await a date to meet the prime minister and planning minister and another date for the revocation sitting to institute proceedings against the illegal penthouses in Gozo.

Patrick Calleja is executive president of Din l-Art Ħelwa.