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3 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 JANUARY 2019 JAMES DEBONO THE increase in planning per- mits has prompted the Plan- ning Authority to recruit five new full-time board members and to reintroduce a dual system, with one planning commission responsible for permits issued in outside de- velopment zones (ODZ) and village cores, and another re- sponsible for other permits in less sensitive areas. The board responsible for ODZ permits is still chaired by PA deputy chairman Eliza- beth Ellul, the brains behind the authority's rural policy ap- proved in 2014. She has served on PA boards since 2008. The other commission is chaired by architect Simon Saliba, a former Labour candi- date. A separate commission chaired by Martin Camilleri remains responsible for regu- larisation permits. The addition of new board members and a new commis- sion chairperson will increase the authority's salary bill by €272,478. For the past few years all planning permits, except those for major projects which are issued by the PA board, have been issued by a planning commission chaired by Elizabeth Ellul, which also included architects Mariello Spiteri and Simon Saliba after the PA discarded a previous system of dual boards. A spokesperson for the PA explained that the decision to add another commission was a result of the increase in the number of planning applica- tions. All commission mem- bers are still being appointed on a full-time basis and "are forbidden from carrying out private practice". This system was introduced through the planning reform of 2011 to cases of conflict of interests like having board members present applications on behalf of clients. The remuneration package of the three planning com- mission chairpersons consists of a basic salary of €39,226 and a number of allowances and benefits which increase the salary to €59,598 – a car allowance of €3,029, a pet- rol allowance of €1,980, a mobile phone allowance of €815, a telephone allowance of €512.46, a non-pensionable general expense allowance of €8,152, a non-pensionable al- lowance of €5,884 and a com- prehensive Health Insurance Scheme. Members and supplementa- ry members are paid €33,680, which increases to €53,220 with various allowances. All previous commission mem- bers were re-confirmed in of- fice. Who are the board members? Ellul's board is now lim- ited to permits in the ODZ and urban conservation areas (OCAs) and includes two new members: architect Claude Mallia, and Anthony Borg, who has a degree in planning. Mallia served on various plan- ning boards including the Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee and the Environ- ment and Planning Review Tribunal. He was also recently chosen through a direct order as the architect for the government's Ta' Kandja shooting range. The other board chaired by Saliba includes architects An- thony Camilleri – previously a substitute member – and Mariello Spiteri, the owner of Environmental Managment Design and Planning, a plan- ning consultancy engaged in environmental studies whose present clients include gov- ernment privatisation arm Projects Malta. Spiteri does not participate in decisions on applications submitted by his company. A third board chaired by Martin Camilleri is respon- sible for the regularisation scheme through which the authority regularises minor illegalities in urban areas against the payment of a fine. This board also includes biol- ogist and tree expert Charles F. Grech and Stephania Bal- dachino, who has a degree in environmental studies. Each board includes a sup- plementary member who serves in the board whenever one of its members is indis- posed. These include Carmel Caruana on the ODZ board, and architect Mireille Fsad- ni who serves on the board chaired by Saliba. Frankie Ivan Caruana Catania, who is specialised in agriculture, serves on the regularisation board. Five new recruits increase PA salary bill by €272,000 Rise in permits leads to new 'ODZ commission' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Statistics show that permits for new dwellings shot up from 3,970 in 2000 to peak at 11,343 in 2007. Subsequently the number of permits declined to just 2,707 in 2013 to rise to 7,508 in 2016. The surge in approval of new dwellings between 2005 and 2007 coincided with a relaxation of build- ing heights in urban areas. It also coincided with Malta gearing up for adoption of the single Europe- an currency, when more people started channelling their undeclared money into property development, fuelling a property boom. The surge in permits after 2015 coincided with a relaxation in planning regulation through design guidelines which effectively superseded height limi- tations enshrined in local plans, and higher rates of economic growth, which contrast with the economic downturn between 2008 and 2013. Only 1% of new dwellings are ODZ But while the PA is approving more dwellings, the percentage of new dwellings approved outside devel- opment zones (ODZ) has fallen to just 1.1% of the to- tal, down from 1.5% last year and from 3.8% in 2016. The percentage of ODZ dwellings approved by the PA was the lowest ever since 2000. Despite the percentage decrease, the actual number of new ODZ dwellings remains higher than that ap- proved in any single year since 2010, except for 2016. In 2018 the PA issued permits for 139 ODZ dwell- ings, three more than in the previous year but down from 283 in 2016. A total of 778 ODZ dwellings was approved be- tween 2013 and 2018 under Labour, compared to 601 approved between 2008 and 2012. A far larger num- ber of ODZ dwellings was approved between 2003 and 2008 when 1,113 ODZ dwellings were approved. Moreover, most dwellings are now being devel- oped on previously developed land. Only 13% were developed on virgin land compared to 35% in 2017. The percentage of new dwellings developed on virgin land was the lowest ever since 2000. The percentage of dwellings on virgin land has decreased from 70% in 2000 to 13% in 2018. More demolitions than conversions While 6,166 dwellings approved in 2018 were the result of the demolition of older buildings 2,409 were the result of the conversion of existing properties. Conversions remained relatively stable between 2000 and 2004; 2005 experienced an increase, fol- lowed by a decline in 2006 and an increase in 2007 and 2008. This was followed by a decline between 2009 and 2013 and a sustained increase since 2014. The number of conversions in 2018 was the highest ever but so was the number of units replacing demol- ished buildings. In 2019, PA approved the highest number of mai- sonettes (1,166) and apartments (11,211) ever. The number of approved terraced houses (396) was also the highest since 2003. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt 3 years 0 2K 4K 6K 8K 10K 12K 0 0.85 1.69 2.54 3.38 4.23 5.08 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Number of permits ODZ as % of total permits TOTAL ODZ dwellings % of total Number of dwellings approved Nationalist administration Labour Newly-approved dwellings up by 376% since 2013