The Prime Minister’s decision to bring together environment and planning under one minister is a tacit admission that the previous separation after the break-up of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority was wrong-headed. Moreover, it provides a clear statement of intent that the new administration intends to tackle the rampant overdevelopment and the dangers this has posed to the natural environment over the past seven years. 

The new Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning has made an immediate impact by stating that he will start publishing a register of all meetings he holds with stakeholders in a move promoting transparency and good governance. Aaron Farrugia’s good intentions are to be commended.

He takes over a vitally important portfolio with a near impossible in-tray to wrestle with. What should be his priorities?

The first thing Farrugia must do is to set out for his top officials his vision for the new ministry under his stewardship. 

From an interview he gave in another paper, it is no less than to devise a national strategy for sustainable development: “A holistic strategy for spatial planning… taking into consideration the impact on the environment and… people’s daily lives and struggles.” 

The first priority therefore is to ensure that every action and every bureaucratic planning process in the new ministry reflects this priority. It will require a profound culture change.

Top officials in the ministry must translate this vision into action and adapt their plans and procedures accordingly. 

Above all, they will have to ensure a better balance between construction development (which must be tightly controlled) and the natural environment (which must be stringently protected).  They must also recommend to the minister ways of widening the composition and balance of the all-powerful Planning Commission and the Planning Board to ensuring greater scrutiny and transparency of their actions.  

Second, the Strategic Plan for Environment and Development (SPED) must be amended to reflect the new balance between construction and the environment. The effects of this re-balancing in policy must cascade down the planning system through the introduction of long-awaited Local Plans for all areas of Malta and Gozo. Without the introduction of Local Plans, the rapid rate of development will carry on in an uncontrolled manner. 

The so-called ‘Floor Area Ratio Policy’ for high rise buildings must also be revised to halt the back-door building frenzy that has gripped Malta. The long-awaited new Fuel Stations Policy must be implemented and adhered to.

Third, the Rural Policy and ODZ Safeguarding policies must urgently be revised on the broad lines already proposed by the Kamra tal-Periti. 

Fourth, the issue of waste management, including the pressing problem of construction waste, must be addressed through an imaginative and disciplined process of re-use and recycling.

Last but not least, plans must be set in place for Malta to switch to a low carbon economy. A comprehensive climate change risk assessment should also be conducted with a serious focus on plans for effective preventive or adaptive measures to mitigate the effects on vulnerable parts of the island.

Farrugia has a massive task ahead of him. Good planning both protects and adds value to the environment. This does not mean stopping construction. 

But it does mean changing the focus to sustainability, renewal and beautification of what already exists and halting the plunder of the precious open spaces that remain.

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