Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/770367
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 JANUARY 2017 2 JAMES DEBONO THE new local plans for the Mal- tese islands, which had attracted close to 7,000 submissions from the public when launched in 2013, are still incomplete a year before the next general election, fuelling speculation that the jug- gling of development boundaries and new building heights for Mal- tese towns will take place after the next general election. This signals a change of heart on the part of the government, which clearly intended to complete the process during this legislature. Writing in the Planning Author- ity's annual report for 2014, Exec- utive Chairman Johann Buttigieg had said he expected the techni- cal finalisation of the draft local plans to be completed by June 2015. This had to be followed by a discussion with the government, followed by an eight-week public consultation period. But a PA spokesperson con- firmed this week that the PA "has not concluded its technical work on the revision of draft lo- cal plans" and has not "forwarded any local plans to the govern- ment". The authority's spokes- person also confirmed that "no target date has been set for their completion". The prospect of the process dragging into the next general election campaign may lead to heightened electoral pressures on the government and politicians, applied by those who are hopeful of getting their land included in new development zones or who stand to gain from revisions in heights or zoning of particular areas. "There has been a lot of street talk on government promises about local plan amendments," Ryan Callus, the Opposition's planning spokesperson told Mal- taToday, adding that the PN has been kept in total darkness on the process. With a year to go, Callus consid- ers the chances of a holistic revi- sion before the election as now "almost certainly out of the ques- tion", given the lengthy process involved. "The government's abysmal re- cord in environmental affairs is such that it may have realised that it would be better to postpone local plan revisions to after the election, in an attempt to hold on to a good number of people who have had enough," Callus told MaltaToday. The local plan saga In June 2013, former lands par- liamentary secretary Michael Far- rugia confirmed that the govern- ment intended to substitute the current seven regional local plans with three generic plans, one of which would be exclusive to Go- zo and Comino, one for the whole of urban Malta and the other for the Maltese 'Out of Development Zone'. The aim of this revision was to "streamline policies and avoid conflicting policy interpretation". The Structure Plan approved in 1992 comprised 24 Local Plans as well as plans covering Rural Conservation Areas. Instead, the previous government had opted for seven local plans covering six regions and one locality. A set of local plans was issued in 2006 in parallel to the controversial wholesale extension of building boundaries. The new timeframe dictated by the new law, which requires two periods of public consultation, both for the first draft and the fi- nal draft, makes it even more un- likely for the government to issue the new plans in the next year. Despite the decision to do away with regional local plans, MEPA still held seven town-hall meet- ings in 2013 covering the regions incorporated in the current seven local plans. MEPA chairman Vince Cassar also described the publication of the new local plans in 2015 as an "important milestone". Cassar wrote that "it is now time that lo- cal plans are updated as required" and that a "number of discrepan- cies and anomalies in the current plans" need to be adjusted. Cassar made it clear that he was against "indiscriminate enlargement of development zones" but "a num- ber of anomalies need to be ad- dressed." The promised lands The government has already excluded a major extension of de- velopment zones comparable to that of 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. Curiously, Falzon's justification was very similar to that of George Pullicino's in 2006, who justified the extension as an attempt to rectify anomalies created by the 1988 temporary boundaries. Falzon's successor as planning secretary, Deborah Schembri, has apparently put the entire process on hold. But the government is under intense pressure by some land- owners left out of the 2006 exten- sion, to have their lands included in development zones – a move that would appreciate the value of their land. While 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 elec- tion. In a bid to achieve a zero net loss of ODZ, and therefore not be accused of enlarging development zones to appease owners who missed out in the 2006 extension, the government has hinted that it will remove some of its own lands from the development zones to accommodate some private own- ers of ODZ lands. 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". In this way the 'tweaking' of development zones is to be com- pensated for by redrawing the boundaries of ODZ (outside de- velopment zones) elsewhere. "The net impact would be zero loss of ODZ areas," so claimed government sources to the Sun- day Times on the effects of this redrawing process last year. The government would not lose anything in terms of developable land, and the reason for this is simple: although these lands are within development zones, they are still "safeguarded" from de- velopment by other planning pol- icies limiting what actually takes place on these land parcels. A case in point is part of the Zonqor coastline in Marsascala, which is technically within devel- opment zones but protected by other policies. But it remains doubtful whether enough publicly-owned ODZ land exists to offset the demands by landowners to have their land in- cluded in development schemes. Inevitably some landowners will miss the bus and feel unfairly left out of the latest revision. This may be one of the unoffi- cial reasons why the completion of the new local plans has been postponed to a later date, prob- ably after the next election. The silver lining for the government being that the promise of inclu- sion in tweaked boundaries after the next election may be enough to secure the vote and backing of the land owners who may benefit from the ODZ swap. News New local plans likely after general election No date for new local plans to tweak development boundaries, fuelling speculation they will only come in place after the next general election e Malta Arbitration Centre is seeking to employ a full-time SENIOR CLERK e selected candidate, who must be able to work in a computerized environment, be self- motivated and able to work within defined frame-works and set time-frames, must be in possession of a minimum of 2 Advanced Level Passes [minimum Grade 5 or C] including English or Maltese, 6 Ordinary Level Passes including Maltese, English and Mathematics (min. Grade 5 or C), and E.C.D.L. Excellent written and oral communication skills in both Maltese and English and the ability to work under minimum supervision are considered as pre-requisites for the post. Applicants must have at least a minimum of one year relevant work experience. Interested persons are kindly requested to send a detailed CV accompanied by a covering letter by not later than the 16th January 2017 quoting reference SC/1/2017 by electronic mail on malta. arbitration@mac.com.mt or by mail to: e Registrar, Malta Arbitration Centre, 33, Palazzo Laparelli, South Street, Valletta VLT 1100 All applications will be acknowledged and will be treated in the strictest confidence. JOBSPLUS Permit Number 14/2017 Ryan Callus: government's abysmal record in environmental affairs is such that it may have realised it would be better to postpone local plan revisions to after the election Johann Buttigieg: The PA executive chair had said he expected the technical finalisation of the draft local plans to be completed by June, 2015