I refer to the article ‘Short ITS consultation period upsets environmentalists’ (May 22).

The Environment and Resources Authority clarifies that the public consultation exercise for the environmental impact assessment terms of reference on the ITS project was issued for 21 days, between April 30, 2017 and May 21, 2017, as required by legislation.

According to EIA regulations (SL 549.46), the consultation period for the terms of reference in question is of 21 days (three weeks), and not six weeks, as erroneously stated in the article. During this three-week period, ERA invites the public to contribute to the formulation ofthe terms of reference for the preparation of an environmental planning statement of a particular development.

This consultation period has been of 21 days since 2001,when the EIA legislation was first enacted.

Besides publishing the call for consultation and all related documents on its website, ERA also issues newspaper adverts to bring these consultations to the attention of the public.

The ERA website was updated with this consultation on April 28, 2017 and adverts were published on April 30 on The Sunday Times of Malta, Kullħadd, Il-Mument and It-Torċa.

Furthermore, ERA notifies NGOs, public entities and relevant local councils of consultations directly through an e-mail shot. In this instance, the e-mail shot to these stakeholders was regrettably sent on May 8, 2017 instead of April 30, 2017, so an additional eight days were given to NGOs, public entities and relevant local councils to provide their feedback. In fact, the consultation period for these stakeholders is still open and will remain open till May 29.

The site is covered by PA 03807/17 (EA 00007/17) related to the proposed city centre multi-use development, including five- star hotel (455 rooms), 158 residences, commercial office space, shopping mall and restaurants and basement car park on the former ITS site, Wesgħet George Portanier and Wesgħet Lewis V. Farrugia, St Julian’s/Pembroke.

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.