Following the recent lowering of Mepa tariffs, things were looking up at the authority, with “substantial” projects being submitted, many for investment, Parliamentary Secretary Michael Farrugia said in Parliament yesterday.

Answering a number of questions by opposition and government MPs, Dr Farrugia said the tariffs had been repeatedly reviewed until they reflected the Government’s direction.

It was not right for the Mepa chairman to be involved at that stage when the final decision would have had to be taken by the Mepa Board.

After the increase in Mepa tariffs in late 2010 to revamp the authority’s revenues, the 3,100 applications of that year had dwindled by 35 per cent to 2,000.

Expectations about the new lower tariffs had seen a surge in revenue from development planning fees, back to within €4,000 of the €3.05 million of 2010.

Dr Farrugia said he was committed not to announce any new policies before discussing them with the board. The Government was working on new concepts for the encouragement of restoration of village cores, but certain areas were “already committed”.

Expectations about the lower tariffs had seen a surge in revenue from development planning fees

Dr Farrugia said the Government was also working on new policies to do away with the standard reply to applicants that there was “no policy in force” for applications outside development zones.

Touching on the proposed splitting of Mepa, he said the current thinking was to merge Planning with Heritage and the Environment with the Malta Resources Authority.