Updated 6.15 p.m.

The Ministry of the Environment and Tourism this evening denied a claim by Labour MP Roderick Galdes that  Mepa was urgently updating policies in an effort to neutralise sections of the local plans and the 2007 Development Control Guidance which were holding up a number of development applications.

In a statement in the morning, Mr Galdes said that while the Labour Party agreed on the need for flexibility and harmonisation of Mepa policies, the way how the policy reviews were being made raised questions on Mepa's real intentions.

It appeared, he added, that the government was seeking quick solutions in order to accommodate a number of applicants because the general election was close. 

In its reaction Mepa said the updating of a process was taking place after an extensive process of consultations and this, therefore was not something which was being done now. The process had been discussed in the Policies Unit, where Mr Galdes worked, and in the Mepa Board, which Mr Galdes was a member of, but Mr Galdes preferred to turn this into a political matter, Mepa said.