Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1421642
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 OCTOBER 2021 12 COMMERCIAL Updating Malta's national spatial Malta's Strategic Plan for Environment and Development is currently under review. Here, Perit Christopher Borg from Malta's Planning Authority (PA) shares his insight into the process and urges the public to get involved. ONE way or another, everyone has a hand in shaping the world they will leave to their chil- dren and Malta's residents are no exception. If individuals, businesses and the country's authorities are to succeed in achieving sustainable develop- ment, both the goal and jour- ney to get there must be agreed upon. A strategy is needed. When it was released in 2015, Malta's Strategic Plan for En- vironment and Development (SPED) sought to create just such a strategy. Drafted by the PA and approved by Parlia- ment, the SPED is the holistic blueprint for Malta's path to sustainable development. Now, the plan is undergoing its first revision. "Our mission was always to integrate the economic, social and environmental facets of Malta's development within a policy and planning framework that ensures sustainability," ex- plains Perit Christopher Borg, the PA's Director of Planning. "The SPED remains Malta's overarching vision for devel- opment and guides other sub- sidiary plans and polices and serves as a reference point for other Government policies with a spatial dimension. But times change and new chal- lenges emerge, which is why periodic revisions are a legal requirement integral to the SPED as a living document." In fact, the SPED's first review milestone was set to start in 2020, focusing on the character and quality of Malta's environ- ment, conservation and devel- opment. The review is ongo- ing in the form of studies that analyse Malta's spatial strategy based on key performance in- dicators and data sourced from entities including the National Statistics Office and the Cen- tral Bank, amongst others. The studies also entail an evalua- tion of the spatial implications of Government's current eco- nomic, social and environmen- tal policies. "We are identifying past and present development trends to project Malta's future spatial needs, as well as to determine how our sustainability frame- work can ensure that develop- ment today does not hinder the lives of future generations. By updating our Spatial Strategy, we can plan for the required economic growth while safe- guarding our environmental and social wellbeing," says Per- it Borg. To this end, the National Spa- tial Strategy will rely on a num- ber of studies, amongst which : 1. A Demography Study to analyse trends in pop- ulation, migration and households, while pro- viding alternative projec- tions for the future. 2. An Employment Study to examine employment trends and determine employment forecasts, including types of jobs, retirement age and fe- male participation in the workforce. The study will also project land use re- quirements to accommo- date future jobs. 3. A Housing Study to es- tablish the needs and de- mands for housing within the context of available land supply. 4. An Audit of current SPED policies based on indica- tors focusing (but not ex- clusively) on floorspaces approved for uses across Malta's urban, rural and coastal zones. The audit will determine whether approved developments align with the SPED's Spatial Plan, and it will also assist in the identifi- cation of issues leading to any necessary revisions of the plan. 5. A Review of Govern- ment's Sectoral Policies Perit Christopher Borg