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SUBSCRIPTION FORM And despite Mistra outcry, outline permits abolished in 2010 are set to return and will condition future decisions JAMES DEBONO BOTH panels of the Heritage Ad- visory Committee – one respon- sible for the cultural heritage, the other for the natural heritage – are being removed by the proposed law due to be discussed after the summer recess. The function of each panel is to provide professional and expert advice to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority on mat- ters relating to the conservation of the cultural and natural herit- age in an integrated process. According to the existing law each panel provides advice on the application process, in particular with regard to the conservation of property or areas that may be af- fected by an application for a de- velopment permission. With the removal of the HAC, there will be no independent in- put in the process. According to the present law the chairman and three other members of the cultural heritage panel are appointed by the min- ister responsible for culture, and the chairman and three members of the natural heritage panel are appointed by the minister after consulting the authority. Despite being composed of ap- pointees, the panels have distin- guished themselves in the past by highlighting shortcomings in the planning process and even disa- greeing with MEPA decisions, as was the case in the approval of a cemetery in Nadur. Moreover case officers have to address issues raised by the HAC when presenting their report on whether an application should be approved or not. The HAC has been instrumen- tal in highlighting inconsisten- cies in the Environment Impact Assessment for the development of Hondoq ir-Rummien and has regularly scrutinised minor devel- opments in historic village cores. Scrutiny by the HAC has been crucial in view of the under-staff- ing at the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage. The minutes of both panels are also published on the MEPA web- site, something which ensures greater public scrutiny during the application process. The HAC members have the au- thority to inspect sites where de- velopment is proposed. The cultural heritage panel is chaired by Magistrate Dennis Montebello while the natural her- itage panel is chaired by Mr Jus- tice Joseph David Camilleri. The return of the outline permit After blaming the issue of the Mistra 12-storey high rise on a preliminary permit issued under the Gonzi administration, the government has re-introduced outline permits. This means that future boards assessing a full de- velopment permit will once again be conditioned by decisions taken by previous boards. Outline permits were abol- ished in the 2010 MEPA reform to ensure that a development is approved through a single appli- cation which considers both the details and the general aspects of a development. Before 2010 de- velopers could first get the gen- eral principles of the development approved at outline stage and then proceed for a full planning application when detailed plans are presented. Instead of out- line permits MEPA introduced a screening process through which developers are informed whether a project is in conflict with plan- ning policies. In 2013 the government claimed that a MEPA refusal to issue per- mits for 774 apartments on the former Mistra Village site would have resulted in the government paying the applicant damages equivalent to "a year's worth of health workers' salaries". The government even claimed that if the Malta Environment and Planning Authority had refused to issue the full permits for the project, the applicants, Gemxija Crown and the Montebello Bros construction firm, would have filed for damages. The Church's Kummissjoni Am- bjent observed that in the past, outline permits have been grant- ed which then compromised the full development permission. The problem, according to the church commission, is that the outline permit in itself cannot go into details even if in many cases the number of apartments or floors for the development is decided at outline permit stage. "When details are then worked out and a full application is pre- sented, the succeeding planning commissions express dismay that their hands are bound because of a previous decision relating to an outline permit". In its submissions to MEPA, the Front Harzien ODZ has also objected to the reintroduction of outline permits. "Experience (ex Mistra) has shown that commitments taken at this stage are difficult to revoke at a later stage. It does not make sense to first approve something in principle without providing the full details," the Front argued. More favourable to the re-in- troduction of outline permits was the small business chamber, the GRTU, which viewed this as a positive move and proposed that once an outline permit is issued, this should become binding. According to the GRTU the difference between the outline permit as proposed and a full de- velopment permit is just the fees paid to the Planning Authority. "Therefore once an outline permit is issued, a permit upon which entrepreneurs might base important and costly decisions, such as the acquisition of prop- erty, it should become irrevoca- ble and the applicant should only be asked to pay the PA fees," the GRTU said. 'It does not make sense to first approve something in principle without providing the full details' Despite the public outcry over the development of 774 apartments in Mistra outline permits were abolished in 2010 and are now on their way back Heritage Advisory Committee to be abolished