European Parliament president Roberta Metsola recently spoke to the Times of Malta about the need for the introduction of a law guaranteeing the right to light.
Metsola pointed out that this law is a right in most European countries while, in Malta, the construction of more high-rises is leading to the loss of natural light, which, in turn, impacts people’s quality of life, including mental health.
A law on solar rights had been in the offing at the very beginning of the Joseph Muscat administration but the draft law would never see the light of day for it was quietly scuppered, together with tens of provisions in the planning laws.
In some cases, the government would pass planning legislation by stealth, such as the infamous Annex V of DC2015, which allowed for the construction of five-storey buildings. This annex was never scrutinised in parliament, yet, its effects continue to blight the Maltese skyline.
Metsola also spoke of a detailed “national development plan” that defines where and what can be developed, as well as what should be considered as open spaces.
The EP head, however, made no mention of the equally infamous 2006 local plans, which have been under fire recently after the Planning Authority allowed the rezoning of a huge stretch of agricultural land in Nigret, Żurrieq.
In fact, the local plans define the areas that can be developed and areas that cannot and were the source of protests back in 2006 and remain a pressing concern to this day.
Labour has tried to brush off criticisms of its planning policies – or lack thereof – by often pointing to the local plans as the main culprit. However, these plans were written 16 years ago and have only served to open new areas for development through a “rationalisation” exercise, thus favouring speculators who sat on entire stretches of land for at least 10 years.
The PL has often spoken of “compensation” due to landowners whose land is excluded from development zones as a reason not to revise the local plans, even though “partial reviews” of these plans have been made in various towns, together with more tweaks right after the 2013 election.
However, there is no law to this effect and the right to develop land is simply not included in the law; the government is quoting inexistent jurisprudence, or merely firing misinformation from the hip.
Sadly, the opposition has also been silent on the local plans. PN leader Bernard Grech avoided questions on the Nigret issue and never once during the 2022 election campaign did he pronounce himself in favour of a review; generally, with the exception of a single MP, the Nationalist Party has shown itself unwilling to talk about construction, perhaps because it has its own bridges to rebuild.
In this regard, Metsola’s comments on solar rights are without doubt commendable but scrape the surface of the real problem.
The National Strategy on the Environment, launched by Environment Minister Miriam Dalli, served only as a precursor for the €700m Project Green, led by MEP-candidate-to-be Steve Ellul; since its inception, the square meterage of open spaces lost to development outstrips that of the proposed parks.
No effort has been made to counter the onslaught of development, despite the indications in various surveys from even before the election.
All over Malta and Gozo, the right to light has been irremediably lost; voters struggle to understand who will combat overdevelopment and want someone who can put up a fight.