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JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt 4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 AUGUST 2026 NEWS Illegal development reports fall after PA removes anonymity Bastion Nights Under the Stars Jazz Nights every Wednesday evening and a specially curated à la carte dining experience. Mediterranean Barbecue every Tuesday & Thursday evening accompanied by live entertainment. +356 2122 5241 Bastion Restaurant - The Phoenicia Malta | Scan to learn more COMPLAINTS alleging illegal development fell by almost a third in 2025, after the Planning Authority made it mandatory for complainants to provide their contact details. According to the PA's annu- al report for 2025 the Planning Authority's Enforcement Direc- torate received 1,679 reports of alleged illegal development. This represents a 30% decrease com- pared to 2024 and a nearly 32% decline compared to 2023. The PA attributed the decline to the policy requiring com- plainants to identify themselves, saying this had "improved the quality of submissions" and al- lowed officers to communicate with complainants during inves- tigations. The change was introduced after the authority found that a substantial number of anon- ymous complaints in previous years resulted in no action be- cause allegations were either un- founded or lacked sufficient de- tails. Subsequently, investigators were unable to seek clarification from anonymous sources. However, the annual report does not provide a direct com- parison of the proportion of valid complaints before and after the introduction of the require- ment. In 2025, illegal development was identified in around half of the 1,972 complaints closed dur- ing the year. In 2023, when anon- ymous complaints accounted for half of all reports, illegal devel- opment was confirmed in 58% of cases, compared to around half of cases in 2024 and 2025 after the new requirement was intro- duced. Where illegalities were con- firmed in 2025, the PA said com- pliance was achieved in most cases without formal enforce- ment action. Property owners submitted 466 sanctioning applications to regu- larise unauthorised works, while in 361 cases illegal development was voluntarily removed or rec- tified before further action was taken by the directorate. During 2025, the authority also closed 226 pending enforcement cases accumulated from previ- ous years. Of these, 103 were resolved through sanctioning or regularisation permits, while 72 were closed after illegal struc- tures or works were removed by contraveners themselves. New billing system The PA also introduced a new system for billing daily fines linked to enforcement notic- es. The automated system, launched fully in the first quarter of 2025, allowed the directorate to take over responsibility for is- suing invoices, a function previ- ously shared with other sections of the authority. All outstanding daily fines were invoiced during 2025, with the PA saying that from 2026 it would issue invoices every six months to provide greater trans- parency on accumulated fines and improve monitoring of out- standing payments. In 2025, illegal development was identified in around half of the 1,972 complaints closed during the year