Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1272935
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 JULY 2020 NEWS I CHOOSE FAIR Dates: Friday, 31st July and Saturday, 1st August 2020 Venue: Grand Hotel Excelsior, Great Siege Road, Floriana, Malta Time: 31st July 16:00-20:00hrs 1st August 09:00-13:00hrs Visitors are requested to bring their ID Card and face mask whilst respecting social distancing protocols. ichoose@gov.mt education.gov.mt/ichoose NAGĦŻEL IL-KARRIERA TIEGĦI EDUCATION FAIR POST-SECONDARY Open for students, parents and the public • Post-Secondary Institutions • Talks - visit education.gov.mt/ichoose for the schedule The Ministry for Education and Employment is embarking on the 'I Choose' initiative, targeting all 5th formers. This will be another opportunity whereby our students can explore post-secondary options as they leave compulsory education. The 'I Choose – Nagħżel il-Karriera Tiegħi' event, will enable our students to make informed choices about their future. The event will include all post- secondary educational institutions. The programme also includes the possibility for both students and parents to attend different talks which will be delivered by professionals in various related fields. The overall aim of this event is to help students to overcome difficulties and doubts related to their future career paths. Rural policy fuelled increase in ODZ swimming pools JAMES DEBONO A total of 663 swimming pools were approved outside develop- ment zones since 2010, of which 29% were approved in Gozo. Moreover, 468 new swimming pools were approved since the beginning of 2015, following the approval of the controversial rural policy in September 2014, which facilitated the develop- ment of new dwellings in outside development zones. Although this policy is now being scrapped and replaced by a more restrictive one, environ- mental NGOs have recently ex- pressed their disappointment that ODZ swimming pools will still be permitted under the new regime. Official figures released by the Planning Authority to Mal- taToday show that 2019 was a bumper year for ODZ swim- ming pools, with 121 new pools approved in a single year. Signif- icantly, 38% of new swimming pools approved last year were in Gozo. The trend continued in the first seven months of 2020 during which 77 ODZ swim- ming pools were approved, 44% in Gozo. The number of ODZ swim- ming pools decreased from 46 in 2010 to just 25 in 2013. But numbers started picking up af- ter the approval of the new ru- ral policy. In fact, the number of ODZ pools shot up from 26 in 2014 before the approval of the new policy, to 59 the following year with the numbers steadily increasing to reach 73 in 2018 and 121 in 2019. The figures include pools lo- cated in tourist accommodation facilities and extensions of ex- isting swimming pools, but do not include renewals of previous permits. How the 2014 rural policy changed the goalposts The rural policy guidelines in- troduced in 2014 were similar to guidelines on ODZ swimming pools established in 2000. But these also created greater oppor- tunities for the development of ODZ dwellings including the re- development of ruins in to full- scale villas with pools enclosed behind boundary walls. The policy allows swimming pools within the "curtilage" of any legally-established accom- modation with the pool and the deck area being restricted to a footprint of 75sq.m. Curti- lage is defined as a "physically restricted tract of land immedi- ately contiguous to a legally es- tablished building that is already physically existing, typically bound by a peripheral wall en- closing the building." This policy encouraged owners to surround their ODZ com- pounds with boundary walls en- closing not just the dwelling but surrounding landscaped areas around the pool. In the case of multiple accommodations, the said maximum size of 75sq.m may be increased up to a maxi- mum of 5sq.m per additional ac- commodation. Swimming pools were even permitted in Areas of Ecological Importance if it can be duly demonstrated through the necessary assessment, that the development does not com- promise the sites in question. The new draft policy proposed to replace the 2014 rules is more restrictive when it comes to ap- proving new dwellings in the countryside and plug loopholes through which ruins could be turned in to full-scale villas with pools. Therefore, if approved, the new policy would indirectly contribute to a decrease in new pools. The new rules are also more restrictive when it comes to the approval of new develop- ment in protected areas. But it largely keeps the same parameters for swimming pools whenever an ODZ dwelling is approved. In their reaction to the new policy, NGOs wel- comed the more restrictive poli- cy guidelines but have expressed disappointment that ODZ swimming pools can still be per- mitted. The NGOs maintain that the development of ODZ swim- ming pools is not a "a legitimate use within the countryside" and expressed disappointment "that the chance was missed to deal with this problem". GOZO MALTA Total 2010 14 32 46 2011 23 19 42 2012 7 22 29 2013 9 16 25 2014 9 17 26 2015 12 47 59 2016 12 57 69 2017 7 62 69 2018 12 61 73 2019 46 75 121 2020 34 43 77 Total 182 451 633 Number of ODZ swimming approved since 2010 663 ODZ swimming pools approved in 10 years: approvals increased after 2014 rural policy from just 25 in 2013, to 121 in 2019