Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/641079
6 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 17 FEbruArY 2016 News The great ODZ swindle? The government is saying that any increase in development boundaries as a result of the on- going 'tweaking process' is to be compensated for by redrawing the boundaries elsewhere. "The net impact would be zero loss of ODZ areas," government sources told The Sunday Times. But sources in MePA con- firmed with MaltaToday that it is extremely unlikely that the Plan- ning Authority would change the ODZ designation of privately owned land parcels. This is because the government would then have to compensate owners whose land would lose value if removed from the de- velopment zones. Therefore the only option for the government is the re-designation of publicly owned lands, most of which are already protected from develop- ment through other provisions in local plans, but which had been retained in the rationalisa- tion of 2006. The promised lands The Labour government has al- ready excluded a major extension of development zones like the one carried out by the previous government in 2006. But when asked why the gov- ernment does not simply retain the boundaries as these are to- day, former parliamentary secre- tary Michael Falzon had justified tweaking the 2006 boundaries by accusing the former government of being "creative" in including certain lands, but not others. Cu- riously, Falzon's justification was very similar to George Pullicino's in 2006. For Pullicino had justi- fied the extension as an attempt to rectif y anomalies created by the 1988 temporary boundaries. When asked by The Sunday Times about this issue, Falzon's successor as planning secretary, Deborah Schembri, replied that "it would be premature to com- ment". This is an indication that the government is under intense pressure by some land owners who felt left out of the 2006 ex- tension of boundaries to have their lands included in develop- ment zones, which would inf late their value. Although in January 2013 Joseph Muscat had promised, before the election, that ODZ boundaries "won't be touched", the tweaking of development boundaries has been on the agenda since the election. But to avoid being accused of enlarging the development zones to appease owners who feel un- fairly left out of the 2006 exten- sions, the government will have to remove some of its own lands from the development zones. Moreover the government would not lose anything in terms of de- velopable land, and the reason for this is simple: although these lands are within development zones many of them are "safe- guarded" from development by other planning policies. The way forward? The Strategic Plan for the en- vironment and Development (SPeD) foresees "minor adjust- ments" to development bounda- ries "whilst ensuring that the overall result does not constitute a significant change". Therefore the government has already set the legal basis for the tweaking of boundaries. The question remains: Is there enough public land which can be swapped for private land which will be opened up for develop- ment? One parcel of land which can be easily excluded from the de- velopment zone is the coastal area near the Zonqor national pool, which is presently already "safeguarded" from develop- ment in the 2006 local plan and is scheduled because of the salt pans. Joseph Muscat has already claimed that if he wanted the new university to be located entirely within development zones he might have allocated this coastal area to the Sadeen group, which is setting up the university. But this ignores the fact that the lo- cal plan already bans any devel- opment on this protected site. The government may use the exclusion of this land from the development zone to counter bal- ance the f lak from the develop- ment of the university on 18,000 square metres of ODZ land. But the exclusion of this land is largely symbolic as it is already protected by the local plan. It remains unclear whether land earmarked for the Zonqor 'uni- versity' will be added to develop- ment zones or remain ODZ. The land earmarked for the SmartC- ity project was added to develop- ment zones in 2006 but the ODZ land on which Mater Dei was built was not. If the 'university' is also added to development zones, the government will have less land to compensate for de- velopment elsewhere. But there are also plenty of other areas which can be easily removed from the development zone. The current development zone also includes other coastal areas around Marsaskala, which are also "safeguarded" from de- velopment. Another area which is presently safeguarded from development is il-Ponta tal-Qawra, which although within development zones is also listed as an Area of ecological Importance. Mellieha also has various safeguarded ar- eas which are still within the de- velopment zone – mainly natural areas which happen to be within the urban conurbation. Land around Ta' hagrat, for which the government has already paid compensation to owners to stop development around the temples, could also be declared ODZ. Moreover there are also some ODZ parcels added in 2006 which belong to government. A considerable chunk of 2,750 square metres of land in Fekru- na, which had been controver- sially recovered by the Nation- alist government on the eve of the general election against a controversial compensation paid to the owners, may now be eas- ily removed from development boundaries. The land, freed of any obliga- tions to private owners, is pres- ently earmarked for a public park. Ironically it was the inclu- sion of this land in development schemes in 1998 and 2006 which inf lated the value of the Fekruna land and finally, therefore, the compensation paid to the own- ers. Labour Whip calls for state-funded parenting Tim DiacOnO LABOur Whip Godfrey Farru- gia has urged the government to establish specifically-designed courses for couples about to be separated or divorced, as well as for single parents. Speaking during parliament's adjournment, Farrugia warned that children often suffer as a result of their parents separating or divorcing. "The definition of what consti- tutes parenthood has widened significantly in the past 30 years, and now also includes separated couples, single parents, grand- parents, and homosexual people in civil unions," he said. Godfrey Farrugia, aiming to convene committee meetings to discuss parenting