Mepa considering payments regime for environment-related permits

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) is currently holding consultations with government departments on a regime of payments it wants to introduce regarding "operational environmental permits," Environment and Rural Affairs minister George Pullicino told parliament yesterday.

Replying to questions on the authority's revenue during the debate on Mepa's financial estimates, Mr Pullicino said it was hoped that this consultation process would be concluded by January, after which the government would decide what kind of payment there should be for permits which needed to be introduced if Malta was to observe its obligations in terms of the EU acquis involving the environment.

Mr Pullicino also defended the government's decision to raise its subvention to Mepa by Lm1 million to Lm2.85 million for next year.

These funds were not a waste, as the opposition leader had implied on Monday, but a major investment in higher environmental standards to benefit the people, he said.

Indeed, the bulk of the additional funding would be used to strengthen Mepa's environment directorate so that it could better monitor air and sea water quality, noise levels, dust levels generated by the building industry, and chemicals used by industry.

He pointed out that upon taking on the environment role, the authority had absorbed some 40 employees of the former Environment Protection Department and had also engaged more people, especially professionals, so as to be better able to conduct its responsibilities. This had been done without additional funding. But over the past year Mepa had a deficit of Lm800,000.

Mr Pullicino said that despite the increased outlay for next year, the amalgamation of Mepa and the department had actually meant lower recurrent and capital costs as there was less duplication of work, less need for premises, and greater efficiency with direct linkage between planning and environment protection. The amalgamation had also resulted in more effective law enforcement.

Opposition utilities spokesman Charles Buhagiar said he was skeptical about how the amalgamation of the Planning Authority and the Environment Protection Department had been carried out. This could lead the department to have less power than it used to.

He could not understand how the minister had said the amalgamation had resulted in saving when, at the same time, he was saying the government's subvention would rise by Lm1 million. Nor could he understand that there was less need for premises, when Mepa actually needed more offices.

Indeed, the government needed to explain how Mepa next year was projecting lower revenue from a number of sources, such as from the fees on the processing of development applications, due to drop by some Lm100,000. Were any tariff rises planned for next year?

Mr Buhagiar complained that the Structure Plan, now more than 10 years old, had not been sufficiently updated, a situation which was hampering forward planning as policies on various areas had not been drawn up.

There was also need for Mepa and utility providers to coordinate forward planning more closely together. It appeared that the current situation was that Mepa was carrying out most of the forward planning work itself because it was not finding sufficient cooperation from the other authorities. But this was not, strictly speaking, Mepa's role and it was eventually leading to conflicts between the requirements of Mepa and the utility providers.

There was also need for Mepa to step up work on the drawing up and approval of local plans, a process which had been dragging for years. The situation was leading to confusion and many development applications being held up. Another was the designation of sites for SMEs.

Referring to the Development Control Commission, Mr Buhagiar said that there was a need to stop the practice where architects who served on the DCC ended up deciding on their own projects. He was not saying that such architects should not have private practice, but the way matters were being handled was blatant and led the public to raise questions over conflicts of interest.

There was also need for members of the DCC to have several years of experience. It was not right that architects with only some two years experience were asked to decide on multi million liri projects.

He also wanted to insist that the members of the DCC should not be party election candidates, whichever party was involved.

Mr Buhagiar called for consistency in decisions by Mepa and said the authority should be careful in the costs it imposed. For example, a farmer who wanted to develop a poultry farm was asked to draw up an environment impact assessment costing Lm3,000. This was unfortunately a common practice. Surely a more reasonable approach should be adopted for evidently genuine applications.

Mr Buhagiar said there was need for Mepa to engage officials to assume the role which building inspectors used to perform. At present, no one was verifying that new buildings were constructed according to required standards.

Furthermore, no one was checking the designs and, eventually, the structure of new public buildings.

The Labour MP said it was right that urban sprawl was being contained, but there were too many complaints from owners of old buildings who suffered damages when next door buildings were demolished and replaced. Clearly there should be specific permit conditions to protect third parties. For example, skin walls should be used when a new building abutted on an old one. The conditions should also allow for adequate space from neighbouring buildings when excavations were made.

Concluding, Mr Buhagiar said he was not convinced that sufficient measures were being taken to protect the environment when inert waste was dumped in disused quarries. The minister should explain how such permits were issued.

Dr Joe Brincat, opposition spokesman on the environment and a member on the PA board, said his criticism had to be seen within the framework of the loyalty he had to show to the board.

He said Mepa was going through a period of rapid change. Not only had the environment been added to its past planning function, but it now had to monitor the implementation of many regulations stemming from the EU, and it was ill equipped to do so.

For a start one needed to better coordinate the many "republics" in Malta dealing with the environment where even pay packets varied widely for similar work.

Dr Brincat said the authority needed to become more proactive and reduce its bureaucracy. For example, much time and money was being spent on the vetting of development applications which were practically identical.

The authority should not only have generic policies but specific policies for particular areas which had their own character. In that way, development applications which were in line with those specific policies and preserved the character of those areas would be quickly approved and decisions would be uniform.

Turning to enforcement, Dr Brincat said there should be a rethinking of the way enforcement was made and the way it was provided for in legislation, so that it could be more cost effective.

Dr Brincat regretted that 95 per cent of the time of Mepa board meetings was being taken up with planning issues and the environment was being given marginal importance of Mepa's agenda. This should not be so as environmental matters were more urgent.

He also insisted that discrimination, hidden or obvious, in the consideration of planning permission had to be addressed. No one should be preferred over others.

Winding up, Mr Pullicino said he was confused about the opposition's skepticism on the amalgamation of the former Planning Authority and the Environment Planning Department. For to date the opposition always complained when new authorities were set up, rather than when two bodies were amalgamated.

The PA and the department had been amalgamated for greater coordination of their respective fields. Had this amalgamation not taken place, costs would have risen far more than they actually had.

Mr Pullicino said he was pleased to note that the average number of pending development applications had dropped to just over 2,874 over the past year. The number of pending applications at the end of the financial year was 2,639. This drop in pending applications was the result of greater efficiency, particularly following the setting up of another two commissions to consider applications.

It was not easy to find people who were competent to sit on such commissions and take decisions. And it was true that there could be situations, as Mr Buhagiar said, where applications ended up for a decision before the same commission on which the responsible architect sat. He would consider suggestions on how this situation could be avoided, but it was also worth remembering that all decisions were taken transparently and in public.

Mr Pullicino said that as far as he knew, only one of 21 members of the control commissions was an election candidate and as far as he knew he had not been a candidate when he was appointed. He would admit that he could possibly share some of Mr Buhagiar's concern, but he would take the argument further. Should case officers, given their influence, be candidates for general or local elections?

Mr Pullicino said one could not totally eliminate inconsistency in decisions by Mepa, but there was no doubt that the setting up of commissions assigned to take decisions on specific types of development had reduced such inconsistency.

Good progress had been made in the drawing up of local plans and he was amazed by the amount of submissions received from the public, in certain cases over 2,000 submissions for one local plan.

The minister said that two of the seven local plans were concluded. The North Harbour local plan was at the ministry awaiting approval which he hoped would be given at the beginning of next year and he was awaiting the final drafts of the north west and central area local plans from the authority. The draft local plan for the south was planned to be issued next year. One of the reasons why the drafting had been delayed was that the government was insisting on clearer policies to reduce the need for discretion by case officers and other decision makers.

Mr Pullicino said he agreed with Dr Brincat on the need for specific design guidelines for some areas but there was a question of how much one should impose one style and not another.

He agreed on the need for coordination between Mepa and other departments and agencies. Unfortunately some corporations did not have any long term plans but only saw to current needs.

On the updating of the Structure Plan, Mr Pullicino said 16 topic papers which were together about a metre high had been prepared so far, and he was urging the public to read them and submit their comments. The draft changes to the plan would be issued next year.

Mr Pullicino said the plans for industrial parks for SMEs was in the finishing phase and would be submitted to parliament next year. Mepa had also drawn up papers and development briefs for various localities including Pender Place, shooting ranges, Ta Masrija in Mellieha and retail planning guidelines.

Next week the Mepa board would discuss a new policy to make life easier for farmers who submitted development applications.

A review of the development control guidelines published in the year 2000 would also be announced early next year.

Mr Buhagiar was right in his comments on enforcement of building regulations. This was currently the responsibility of the Ministry of Resources and that ministry was about to issue new regulations which would include tighter control on the generation of dust and other material on building sites.

Mr Pullicino observed that 919 enforcement actions were taken by Mepa this year. These included 262 illegal structures which were demolished by the owners themselves - a number that was growing. In August alone, 150 enforcement cases were concluded. Mepa had also been involved in the removal of debris from various areas.

Next year the authority would seek to be more proactive, as Dr Brincat had said. It would therefore place greater focus on education and on explaining its policies rather than having to take corrective measures later.

Next year illegal air conditioners fixed on façades in Valletta would be removed. A leaflet would be issued to explain how such air conditioners could be integrated into façades in a way which did not mar the environment.

Mr Pullicino said one should consider whether there should be voluntary environment wardens, as was the case in Italy. Clearly, rather than armchair critics one should take concrete action in favour of the environment.

Referring to dumping in quarries, Mr Pullicino said Mepa officials over the past year inspected an average of 150 trucks full of building material which was about to be dumped in unused quarries in Siggiewi.

The authority over the past year received 1,200 complaints regarding pollution and contamination and took action on about 800 of them. The complaints were on various issues including the dumping of rubble, the dumping of waste at sea, industrial pollution, and emissions from chimneys.

The Environment Directorate over the past year also assisted environmental organisations such as Nature Trust acquire EU funds. It also provided an administrative basis for the Ornis Committee, a committee formed between Birdlife and hunters which was to regulate work in the sector.

The committee had embarked on an exercise to process 16,000 applications for hunting and trapping ensuring that regulations were safeguarded. The minister said that strides forward had to be made to retain what was won in negotiations with the EU regarding hunting, and more enforcement was required. According to what was negotiated, a project was to be embarked upon in the coming weeks for the rearing of seven species of wild birds.

Mr Pullicino said that a number of tenders had been issued for the collection of scientific information on Maltese biodiversity.

Mr Pullicino pointed out that the lead content in the air had dropped by half following the phasing out of leaded petrol.

Concluding, he said Mepa would continue to ensure that building development took place only within the boundaries established in 1989. Loss of agricultural land in the past 15 years was three times less than the previous 15 years, he said.

The estimates were then approved with 23 in favour and 19 against.