Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504229
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 JULY 2023 NEWS ERA also expressed its res- ervations on using money de- rived from fines imposed on regularised ODZ properties for urban improvement project s,arguing that "adequate envi- ronmental safeguards" should be in place, "to avoid giving the impression that the funding of urban improvement schemes will be taking place at the ex- pense of the countryside, the rural landscape and the natural environment". ERA also gave concrete ex- amples of the kind of develop- ment located in the curtilage of properties which are partly within the development zone but which extend in the ODZ which raise environmental concerns. These include prop- erties which include "ODZ land which is currently occu- pied by one storey buildings, stores or sheds, lateral exten- sion of the back elevations of development onto the ODZ" adding that it has regularly "objected to encroachments of urban development onto ODZ land, as part of the consulta- tion on the development appli- cations". ERA also expressed its con- cern that the scheme will exac- erbate environmental impacts in rural hamlets known in plan- ning jargon as Category 1 Set- tlements to which the scheme also applies noting that present policies have already contribut- ed to an encroachment on rural land. ERA noted that these ham- lets were designated through well-defined boundaries in the Local Plans, with the aim of containing urban development therein. But the same authori- ty expressed concern that the Development Control Design Policy drafted in 2015 has al- ready resulted in higher-densi- ty development in these areas. "In some instances, edge-of-settlement permits resulted in developments en- croaching onto rural land be- yond the settlements' bound- aries, resulting in potential impacts on the landscape at the urban-rural interface". Government's generic reply to 292 submissions In its generic reply to all 292 submissions made during the public consultation issued in May, the government insist- ed that the planning system should seek to address prob- lems faced by citizens, "includ- ing financial and social burdens on households created through a chain of occurrences". Moreover, according to the government "enforcement is not necessarily the only or best route to address these issues". The government also point- ed out that only properties covered by a planning permit would be eligible for regular- isation and that the original permit "must include land within the development zone". Hence according to the gov- ernment, "the percentage of the site which lies in ODZ is not relevant for eligibility pur- poses" and the application of the scheme " is very limited within clear parameters for el- igibility". Planning Minister Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi piloted the scheme introduced in 2023 by which properties in built up areas that have illegalities protruding into ODZ areas will be able to regularise their position