Two new boards for planning authority

Two new boards run by full time members were set up yesterday at the planning authority as part of the promised reform.

The government also substituted two of the members on the main board, which will remain chaired by Austin Walker.

The new Environment and Planning Commissions, which will substitute the Development Control Commissions, will be chaired by architects Sandra Magro and Franco Montesin and will have Bjorn Bonello, Anthony Ellul, John Mangion and architects Claude Borg, Saviour Borg, Fleur Ebejer, Elizabeth Ellul and Frank Muscat as members.

One of the new boards will be dedicated to applications in development zones and the other to those outside the building areas. The list of which members will be on which board still has to be decided.

Ms Magro and Mr Montesin were also appointed deputy chairmen of the main Mepa board.

Two board members, whose term of office expired – Joe Tabone Jacono and architect Michael Ellul – will be replaced by former European Courts of Justice judge Giovanni Bonello as the expert on heritage and Christine Pace, who has know-how in commerce.

Lawyer Philip Manduca was appointed to the board for his expertise on environment associations and Chiara Borg will sit on the board with her experience on the social sector.

Other members of the Mepa board are Charles Bonnici, Joseph Vella, engineer Joseph Farrugia and architect Elena Borg Costanzi.

The government will be represented on the board by MP Joe Falzon while the Labour Party representative on the board will remain MP Roderick Galdes.

The new appointments come into force in the coming days as the government introduced different provisions of the revised Environment and Development Planning Act.