The policy regulating tall buildings may be in breach of European law and invalid, according to experts who spoke to The Sunday Times of Malta.
European law lays down that a screening exercise must be conducted to decide whether a new policy requires a Strategic Environmental Assessment. An SEA is mandatory for a range of plans and programmes to be implemented by member states, including those related to town planning and land use.
Member states have to carry out a screening procedure to determine whether the plans are likely to have significant environmental effects. If so, an SEA is needed, according to the European directive.
The Planning Authority has confirmed that no screening or SEA was carried out for the policy before its implementation.
“Further to your query, kindly note that no screening or SEA was carried out for the FAR policy, reason being that this was not a new policy but a guideline on the interpretation of the existing FAR policy which was already in force,” a PA spokesman said.
This was shot down by legal and technical experts, who told this newspaper that a screening exercise must always take place.
“The PA cannot decide, without screening, that an SEA is not required,” a lawyer told The Sunday Times of Malta.
Another anomaly was raised – the FAR policy refers to a general planning document called DC2007 as a previous reference. “This is not a full high-rise policy at all, and the new FAR policy is quite different. DC2007 is not even in force any longer, as it was replaced by DC2015, which does not regulate high-rise,” the lawyer added.
There have been several cases in which the European Commission considered a lack of SEA screening, or incorrect screening, to be an infringement, official records show.
The former environment director of the now defunct Malta Environment and Planning Authority, Petra Caruana Dingli, said she would not be surprised if the situation would lead to some serious questions being asked by the European Commission. “Environmental assessments cannot be easily ignored,” she said.
She insisted the government should not try to find or invent loopholes to avoid its environmental obligations. “The argument that this is just a guideline and not a new policy is very weak.
“The government’s own National Environment Policy in 2012 stated clearly that no planning policy on high-rise was yet in force (p64). It even identified certain environmental effects which will eventually need to be included in the new policy,” she said.
Dr Caruana Dingli added that without an SEA having been carried out, the entire FAR policy may be considered invalid.
The PA said the new policy “includes more stringent and restrictive provisions… and hence would seriously curtail and reduce environmental impacts”.
The executive president of NGO Din L-Art Ħelwa, Maria Grazia Cassar, contested the PA’s stand.
“It isn’t credible that the new policy is more stringent, as it has already encouraged a flood of proposals for high-rise buildings, which were previously held back. The Townsquare (Sliema) proposal has shot up from 24 storeys to 38 storeys under this new policy,” she said.