Din l-Art Ħelwa is objecting to the manner in which the minister responsible for planning, Ian Borg, is handling the review of the Rural Policy Design Guidance of 2014.

A public consultation on the objectives of this long-awaited review was launched last month, with a deadline of November 15. On Wednesday, however, the minister announced that the draft policy was already being drafted by a senior legal expert and would be ready within weeks.

“The minister has thereby tacitly confirmed that the ongoing consultation is a total waste of time for any person or organisation who thought they should take it seriously and participate,” the organisation said.

It said it was surprised and concerned by the minister's announcement that he had entrusted the drafting of “this very important policy”, to a legal expert. 

Din l-Art Ħelwa stresses that the drafting of such policies should be led from a planning perspective, and not narrowed down to a legalistic approach. The legal aspect is also integral to any planning policy, but this should not be the leading approach. The minister, it said, was demonstrating a very limited understanding of the complexities of this policy and of forward planning.

The policy should also be reviewed in a timely and considered manner. While it was regrettable that there appeared to have been unnecessary delays in the review process to date, suddenly putting out a rushed job to appear efficient was not the answer as this could create more problems than it solved. 

Din l-Art Ħelwa said the Rural Policy of 2014 was a failure and with the approach being taken, its review only seems likely to compound the problems that it had already caused.

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