Unrealistic pre-electoral promises, coupled with weak planning and environmental institutions, are destroying Malta’s urban and natural fabric to the detriment of future generations, the Church has warned.
It also called on the State to commission a study in view of property bubble concerns and to investigate whether prices are being inflated by the sale of passports and, possibly, money-laundering activities.
The Church’s Environment Commission was commenting in a message marking World Town Planning Day, which falls today.
It expressed deep concern on land-use planning saying decisions seemed to be skewed in favour of developers at the expense of entire communities. It backed its claim citing the controversial Paceville master plan, the original version of which was only scrapped in the wake of a public outcry against it. The building of tall buildings in the middle of urban areas like Sliema and Gżira was the result of such an approach to planning, it added.
Questions were also raised on the delay in the publication of local plans well beyond the time frames set by the government. It noted that this could be the result of the government “being held hostage” by certain commitments that would be impossible to honour without compromising large tracts of open spaces.
The commission put its views on the matter very bluntly, saying political patronage was destroying the country’s urban and natural fabric. “Promising the earth to various individuals risks imploding the whole planning governance system,” it warned.
Promising the earth to various individuals risks imploding the whole planning governance system
The partial local plan revisions being carried out could give rise to conflicting planning policies, which could create potential loopholes, the commission said.
It suggested that the Environment and Resources Authority and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage should be granted a veto in cases of development applications relating to areas within their competence.
The commission called for the abolition of a 30-day response period for the two entities to submit their objections, saying such “guillotine procedures” could be open to abuse.
It noted that recent comments by the head of the superintendence, who reportedly said the general trends and policies all favoured development, did not bode well.
Criticism was also levelled at the Office of the Guardian of Future Generations saying it was conspicuously absent in the national debate on safeguarding the environment.
Touching on the property sector, the Church commission reiterated its call for a government study to evaluate the existing situation and map future needs.
Such study should also investigate the extent to which the passport selling scheme was inflating prices and whether the possibility of money-laundering activities was contributing to this phenomenon, it said.
In conclusion, the commission warned that failure by national institutions to rein in the “powerful few” from trampling the rights of everybody else, especially the vulnerable, would mean failure to safeguard both present and future generations.