The Malta Developers Association said today it agreed with government plans to remove the responsibility for safeguarding the environment from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

It said in a statement that although this new system could lead to fresh difficulties for those applying for a building permit, the environment will be stronger and on an equal footing with the Planning Authority and not subservient to it.

So much so, that the Environment Authority would have the right to appeal Planning Authority decisions, something it could not do today.

Despite all this, the MDA disagreed that the Building Regulations Office should form part of the Planning Authority since it felt that this should remain a separate authority from that which issued permits.

Above all, the MDA noted that, even without the responsibility for the environment, there were going to be two members on the Planning Authority board who were environmentalists while it was to continue to be denied representation on this board – a situation it felt was unjust in its regard.