A legal notice exempting development on hospital grounds from an environmental impact study may land Malta in trouble with the European Commission.

“The Environmental Impact Assessment directive is one of the EU laws most enforced by the Commission to keep member states in check on the environment,” a planning expert told Times of Malta.  

He also pointed out the ECJ has repeatedly ruled there could be no automatic exemption from EIA screening, even for projects which do not require a full development permit but only a notification, as in the case now of the hospital sites.

The government is defending its decision by pointing out that construction at the airport and military installations are also covered by a simple Development Notification Order (DNO). 

However, the planning law expert said that in both cases the EIA regulations had not been amended to exclude such developments from EIA requirements.

He also expressed concern that the law through which hospital developments no longer require planning permission, but simply a DNO, should have been enacted following a consultation process, as required by law. 

A government spokesman said the law regulating planning development in Malta, enacted by a previous administration, contained provisions through which the government could facilitate projects of national importance.

“Having inherited a hospital too small for our country’s needs… this government is committed to delivering a leap in the quality of service by increasing the number of beds, in line with the EU average, by expanding hospitals,” the spokesman said. He said these changes were aimed at accelerating the planning process of developments within hospital grounds which had already been designated for medical use by Mepa. 

The new regulations will apply to Mater Dei, St Luke’s, St Vincent de Paul, Mount Carmel and Gozo General Hospital.

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