The Malta Environment and Planning Authority has just published a guidance document for public discussion dealing with the renewal of planning permits or their amendment. The aim is to establish clear guidelines and procedures for the renewal or amendment of planning permits that are about to expire and, thereby, to remove uncertainty among applicants about their rights and the process that should be followed.
Spread over 26 pages, the guidelines are extremely comprehensive, ranging from clear definitions of what constitutes a renewal of permission, through every step of the process to be followed, to appeal procedures and other measures.
The drafting was conducted over 12 months of careful discussion, including a number of pre-consultation meetings with the Chamber of Architects. In brief, all applications for renewal of planning permits have to be submitted before their expiry date. The applications are then screened and processed in accordance with planning regulations.
In those cases where no changes have taken place on site, permits will be renewed and a further validity period extended. The presumption will lie in favour of renewal, except in specific instances identified in the guidelines.
Coincidentally, the Labour Party made an electoral proposal to extend planning permits beyond their expiry date of five years, under conditions it has yet to elaborate. The Leader of the Opposition said the extensions would not be open-ended and yesterday he specified that a permit would be renewed for a further five years.
It would appear that Mepa had already anticipated the concerns of developers and other property owners and has come up with comprehensive proposals that are now issued for public consultation about the details.
A February 13 deadline has been set for submissions. Whichever Administration is in power after March 9, therefore, should have before it clear guidelines on the matter. However, the Leader of the Opposition’s intervention with his own proposals raises broader issues about planning development if a Labour government were to come to power.
Like every aspect of development planning, any political intervention raises concerns about the correct balance between necessary construction development and the seemingly endless building that makes Malta a permanent building site – with consequent ill-effects on the quality of life of the community.
The five years since the last election witnessed a new Mepa emerge from the low point it had reached, which had led to the “environmental deficit” being one of the key issues of the last electoral campaign. A root and branch review of the development watchdog and other regulatory bodies was undertaken and a new Environmental Development and Planning Act was passed.
Even allowing for the fact that no human process as sensitive as one that affects individuals so personally, either as property developers or house owners, will ever be perfect or above reproach, there can be little argument that confidence in the planning process has improved.
A national environmental policy has been drawn up and, most importantly, Mepa is better led and the various boards are manned by high calibre individuals. It would be a retrograde step indeed if the good work of the past four years were to be undermined in future by undue political interference in the planning process.