Are we coming of age? After 50 years of independence, we are perhaps finally realising that democracy has to be practised and not just paid lip service to.

I was pleased to note that Mepa will be publishing notices regarding planning applications and decisions in Times of Malta rather than in a newspaper with a low circulation.

I also hope that the courts adopt this principle because, from personal experience, Ican attest that the view was that publication for purposes ofthe law, as was the practice then, was satisfied as long as the ad was placed in any newspaperin circulation.

When the law speaks of publication, it intends the widest not the cheapest.

Wide publication is the best democratic safeguard.

There are still many areas where Mepa can broaden its democratic credentials.

It can ensure that application notices are affixed not only at the main entrance to a site but, in the case of mega projects, around their perimeter.

It should also ensure that the notices are always there and not removed some time after they are affixed only to be replaced when protests are filed.