Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1143328
5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 17 JULY 2019 NEWS JAMES DEBONO A long due reform of the ru- ral policy guidelines approved in 2014, which has given the Planning Authority the magic wand to change ruins in to villas, is still in the pipeline two years after the Environ- ment Minister appointed Judge Joseph David Camilleri to investigate how the Envi- ronment and Resources Au- thority was being over ruled by the Planning Authority. Only last week Environment Minister Jose Herrera blasted a Planning Authority deci- sion the transformation of a 31 sq.m dilapidated room in Qala in to a fullblown 200 sq.m villa. The Minister had tweeted his preoccupation with the Planning Commission's de- cision "to ignore amongst everybody else, ERA's rec- ommendation re conversion of tiny room to villa in virgin territory limits of Qala" add- ing that this was "not on." Subsequently MaltaToday asked the Minister whether he intends changing the no- torious policy which makes such decisions possible and to state the conclusion of the investigation carried out by Camilleri . The Ministry spokesper- son confirmed that after the ministerial board chaired by Judge Joseph David Camilleri "started to report on certain issues to the Minister", it was decided that a technical work- ing group was to be setup in- order to address such issues. The working group com- posed of representatives of the Environment Resources Authority, the Planning Au- thority, environmentalists and other stakeholders was appointed in April 2018. The aim of this working group whereby is to come up with "a holistic policy review process on the Rural Policy and Design Guidelines," a spokesperson for Environ- ment Minister Jose Herrera. According to the Environ- ment Ministry the working group has already identified a number of proposed changes to the policy. The changes are aimed at addressing the adverse im- pacts on the rural landscape and character, the overall degradation of the rural and natural environment and the cumulative impacts resulting from the combined effect of both existing and new struc- tures scattered in the coun- tryside. "The Minister is constantly being informed on the pro- gress being registered and the conclusions of this process will be communicated at a later stage". In 2017 after expressing his "alarm" after the publication of a MaltaToday probe show- ing that ERA had objected to 69% of ODZ applications ap- proved by the PA, Herrera had announced the appoint- ment of a ministerial board chaired by the PA's former Natural Heritage Advisory Committee, Judge Joseph Da- vid Camilleri, to investigate this problem of discrepancies between ERA recommenda- tions and Planning Commis- sion decisions. How the rural policy has opened floodgates for countryside development The Rural Development Guidelines issued in 2014 in- cludes a clause (Policy 6.2.A) which specifically allows the "rehabilitation and change of use of architectural historical or vernacular interest" allow- ing their transformation in to dwellings. The policy specifically al- lows the construction of a dwelling (even if the former use was not residential), pro- vided the existing building to be converted has a minimum area 100 sq.m. In the Qala case the pro- posal did not qualify for a new residential use because the in- ternal floor area was 21 sq.m. But the same policy further specifies that a converted building can be used for a use that is already legally estab- lished. Therefore the developers presented a death certificate indicating that Grazia Mifsud was found in an un numbered room in Ta' Muxi in August 1921. But the case officer in this case continued to insist that 2014, since the residen- tial use of the existing build- ing which has been in disuse since at least 1978 is not le- gally established or covered by development permission. The policy distinguishes be- tween historical or vernacular structures and ordinary ru- ral structures whose owners have to prove past residential use in order to apply for rede- velopment according to the terms of Policy 6.2.C. But while in these cases the original building can be de- molished, under Policy 6.2.A, the original structures must be retained and restored. Moreover the policy does not rule out an extension of these buildings provided that this "does not involve sub- stantial lateral or vertical ex- tensions and/or substantial re-building." Curiously, the demolition and complete redevelopment of 'ruins' was specifically ex- cluded in the first draft policy regulating rural and ODZ de- velopments issued for public consultation in October 2013. The policy defined as a ru- in any dilapidated structure "which had lost the major- ity of its supporting walls or roofs". But this important clause was excluded in the final policy approved by the government a year later. By defining any structure build before 1978 as being legal, the policy effectively turned the ruins of buildings dating that date as eligible for redevelopment according to the terms of the policy. This means that any dwell- ing approved under this pol- icy is also eligible for a base- ment. After Qala permit, reform of rural policy in the pipeline The room in Qala which will be transformed in to villa thanks to PA permit issued last week