The Nationalist Party has appealed to the government to finalise the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED) before it continued to revise planning policies.

Referring to a statement by the environmental organisation Din l-Art Helwa earlier this week calling into question Mepa’s decision to approve the new outside development zone policy prior to a discussion on the launch of new planning regulations, the PN criticised Mepa for approving the policy on outside development zones only a few days before a debate within the parliamentary committee for the environment.

It called on Mepa to stop revising crucial policies which affected the strategic vision of the environment, planning and development before the discussion and approval of SPED.

Today, Din l-Art Helwa said that if the SPED was being concluded within a few weeks, there was even more onus to delay policy approvals rather than rush them through.