Environmental organisations have warned that a new Planning Authority scheme allowing illegal developments to be regularised against the payment of a fee risked sending the message that abuse would pay off in the long run.

The new scheme, which underwent public consultation last month, allows buildings not covered by a permit to be regularised as long as they do not constitute “an injury to amenity”, such as disturbing neighbours or the environment.

Regularisation takes place according to a new regime of fees, such as €1,500 for a 150-square metre apartment and €4,300 for a penthouse of 100 square metres.

“For a start, they are not needed because the law itself provides for the correction of moderate irregularities,” Astrid Vella from Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar told the Times of Malta

The new scheme went a step further than existing sanctioning regulations by allowing for sanctioning irrespective of policies and laws

“More importantly, these regular amnesties encourage abuse by giving the message that there will be always be an amnesty down the line. This is very damaging, not only to our urban areas but also to our economy, as it undermines the concept of a level playing field, when one player goes by the book and fulfils all legal requirements, while others take short cuts and are so generously rewarded.”

Heritage trust Din L-Art Ħelwa also raised concerns about the new fees during the PA public consultation, asking if now anything could be sanctioned as long as it was within development zones.

“This would seem rather unfair to the many rectifications people have needed to carry out when selling or purchasing buildings in order to ensure that buildings are in line with the design guidelines,” the organisation said.

Din L-Art Ħelwa also questioned the rationale behind the two-year window and whether this would be extended for another two years when the first two had ended.

Ian Spiteri Bailey, the former chairman of the Mepa Appeals Board, said the new scheme went a step further than existing sanctioning regulations, by allowing for sanctioning “irrespective of policies and laws”.

“Politically, I believe it was done to appease a number of people who expected to have their situations regularised,” he said.

“However, these schemes are not uncommon, even in other sectors, and have already taken place under previous governments.”

When asked for a reaction to the criticism, a PA spokesman said: “If one were to look at the existing legal notices related to fees and fines it would be easily understandable how the Authority arrived to the conclusion of the rates. The rates can never be less than if works were to be sanctioned.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.