Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/563633
27 A number of recent legal amendments have raised serious questions concern- ing the present government's handling of environmental issues. Taken together, these changes give the impression of an administration hell-bent on dismantling the country's already limited environmental protection infrastructure. The most striking example (but by no means the only one) was the replacement of the Structure Plan with a document entitled 'Strategic Plan for the Environment and De- velopment' (SPED): which seems designed to accommodate a number of controversial development projects. According to this document, development may be permitted in ODZ areas 'where no other feasible alternatives exist in urban areas'. SPED also states that projects of a "sustainable" nature can be permitted in ODZ land "as a last resort where it is es- sential for the achievement of sustainable development". Moreover, SPED contains no clear, enforceable policies, but rather a set of policy directions that remain vague and undefined. Even these objectives are sparse in detail and in many cases subject to being overridden on arbitrary grounds, such as 'the national interest'. Environmentalist NGOs have unanimous- ly deplored this reform of the Planning Act, yet were only given 24 hours' notice to sub- mit their objections. The government also ignored a plea to postpone the approval of this document until after the parliamentary summer recess: which would have given the Opposition and other interested parties more time to discuss and possibly improve the new law. Nor is it clear why the government was in such a hurry to place SPED beyond discussion. One possibility is that the new plan was aimed at justifying a number of developments promised by the present administration: including the controversial plan to build a university campus partly on ODZ land. This would not have been legally pos- sible under the previous Structure Plan. SPED, however, seems tailor-made to pre- emptively justify such developments on the basis of their presumed economic benefits. Meanwhile, a host of other dubious deci- sions have further eroded the government's credibility on the environmental front. Perhaps the most bizarre twist concerns changes to the planning law that will allow people to apply for development permits even on land belonging to third parties, without obtaining the owners' consent. If approved in its current form, this new law would even allow people to apply for development permits on public land, with- out seeking the consent of the government. One sincerely hopes this is a mere over- sight which will be corrected in due course. Otherwise, this would mark a return to the pre-2010 situation when no proof of land- ownership was required to submit an ap- plication. Even the Malta Developers' As- sociation – which, by definition, generally regards development more positively than most environmental NGOs – has sounded the alarm over this proposal, insisting that the obligation to seek the consent of own- ers must not be removed. Architect Simone Vella Lenicker likewise described the change as an undesirable proposal. "The current system whereby the applicant must declare that he has obtained the owner's consent to submit an application for development permission has cut out a significant amount of abuse. This should be retained," she said. To date, however, there is no indication that the government will take these sug- gestions on board. As with SPED, the new policy seems in part designed to override objections to development, even of the more sensitive nature. At this point, one can only seriously question the present government's commitment to safeguard the environment – a promise that was given much prominence before the elec- tion, but which now seems to have been completely forgotten. Apart from the very real concerns all these proposals raise with regard to the environ- ment, there are also serious political rami- fications to some of the proposed changes. Under the new legislation, the autonomy of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority will be severely undermined. The present law, approved in 2010, states that the authority's chief executive officer – a post currently occupied by Johann Buttigieg – may be dismissed by the au- thority if he does not achieve the "targets and objectives" set for him by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. But under the new legislation, it will no longer be the authority itself that is empowered to remove its CEO… but rather, the Parliamentary Secretary in the Environment Ministry. This is not just unwise from an environmental protection perspective, but also downright dangerous. By subordinating MEPA to the whims of a minister, the new law – expected to be ap- proved after the summer recess – will ut- terly annihilate the 'arms-length principle', whereby such authorities should be kept entirely independent of the government. Other controversial decisions all seem to point in the same general direction. It was recently announced, for instance, that projects related to public health will be ex- empt from ordinary planning procedures. Given that the government is committed to building two new hospitals, the inten- tion is clearly to dilute the environmental protection infrastructure to facilitate the government's own projects. Far from 'prioritising the environment', it would seem that the intention is in fact the reverse: prioritising construction and development at the expense of the natural landscape. If the Muscat administration intends to go down in history as the most environ- mentally unfriendly Maltese government of all time, it is clearly heading in the right direction. maltatoday, SUNDAY, 30 AUGUST 2015 Editorial MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING DIRECTOR: ROGER DE GIORGIO MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR: MATTHEW VELLA Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 • Fax: (356) 21 385075 www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: maltatoday@mediatoday.com.mt Quote of the week "Since its inception two years ago, the Wild Birds Regulation Unit has eased legislation in favour of hunters and trappers…and the legal notice passed last Friday would give the unit unprecedented powers of enforcement, which were previously held only by the police." – BirdLife Malta on new legal notice published this week Environment protection at an all-time low