Planning Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon is not ruling out the possibility that current Mepa CEO Johann Buttigieg will become chairman of the new planning authority’s executive council – a position that will have broad powers in determining planning policy.

Planning Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

One of the proposed Bills that will separate the environment and planning functions of Mepa published last week states the new planning authority will have an executive council that will decide on policy while the planning board’s function will be to decide on development permits.

All council members will be appointed by the minister – at the moment, the position is held by Planning Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon within the Office of the Prime Minister.

The executive council will be consist of the chairman, two members from the planning board, two members from the environment authority to be set up, and two members “well versed in matters related to the building construction or health and safety or building services”.

The chairman’s powers include the right to endorse documents and plans – this effectively means establishing planning policy. The possibility that Mr Buttigieg will occupy that role is already a cause for concern among environmentalists.

He stirred controversy when he admitted the site selection report proposing land Outside Development Zone in Żonqor, Marsascala, for the American University was done by his office and excluded the Environment Protection Directorate based on instructions by the Prime Minister to keep the information confidential.

Since Mepa is supposed to act as a regulator, Mr Buttigieg’s willingness to act for government rather than in the public interest created a storm and possibility of him occupying this new role is not likely to go down well with environmental groups.

We want to improve enforcement and the Bill gives the minister a chance to regularise illegalities

Dr Falzon would not confirm or deny the possibility saying he would not discuss individuals when the Bills still had to be enacted. When pressed, he said it was evident the new planning authority would be using the existing expertise in Mepa. The parliamentary secretary also confirmed reports by this newspaper last week that the government had been given additional powers under the new law.

The proposed law empowers the minister to regularise illegal development and decide on when daily fines for planning infringements start to apply.

Asked about concerns that the line between the government and the regulator are increasingly blurred under the proposed law, Dr Falzon said the amendments were intended to improve the authority’s effectiveness.

“We are prepared to face reality. We inherited some 10,000 enforcement notices from the previous administration. Some have been there for decades. We want to improve enforcement and the Bill gives the minister a chance to regularise illegalities,” Dr Falzon said.

Asked which criteria would be used to determine each case, Dr Falzon said these were yet to be developed. He stressed the distinction between “regularising” a development and giving the perpetrator an amnesty.

“There will be no amnesty. Those infringements that can be regularised will be done but people will have to pay,” he added, although he would not specify how, except to say it would be some kind of financial penalty.

Dr Falzon stressed the new Bill would increase transparency despite the fact that the amount of information available to the public on each development application will be reduced. He refused to acknowledge that, sticking to the line that “the information will be enough for people to know what they need to know about an application”.

He also defended the possibility granted under the Bill to allow people to make anonymous submissions to the planning authority.

When it was put to him that this would compromise scrutiny, he insisted the proposal was there to “protect the right of third parties” who may otherwise not submit their objections.