Members of the public showed their determination to learn more about their environmental rights and access to information when they braved the bad weather to attend a forum organised by the NGO Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA) on Friday evening.
Celebrating FAA’s first anniversary, coordinator Astrid Vella said the NGO’s early experience in trying to preserve Malta’s heritage had immediately shown that the root of the problem lay in planning issues, hence the focus of the Forum.
Panel speaker Dr Joanna Drake, the head of the EU Representation in Malta, immediately confirmed that the right to information and public consultation was enshrined in EU law, although putting planning regulations into practice often depended on how well member States adopted them. However, the individual can always petition the EU directly. Not only, Dr Drake also announced that a lawyer to help the Maltese public in their queries on EU law is soon to be made available by the Representation in Malta.
MEP Joseph Muscat struck a more controversial note when he said that he is regularly inundated by complaints, and especially complaints relating to property and MEPA. In spite of the fact that Malta has acceded to the EU some time ago, Muscat claimed that many of those in authority do not seem to have accepted that they are now answerable to Europe and, especially, to the people. Mixed messages on Malta are being received in Brussels, with the people giving a completely different version to the official one.
MEPs Simon Busuttil and David Casa were also invited to attend but both declined.
Prof. Arnold Cassola, an MP in Italy, challenged Dr Drake’s instructions that local remedies have to be exhausted before recourse to Europe. “How can the people exhaust local remedies when they are weighed completely in favour of the developer and against the public?” he asked.
Calling for a total overhaul of Government and MEPA systems, Prof. Cassola said that a Whistleblower Act is needed to protect those who witnessed and were ready to expose irregularities within the civil service. “We have a Data Protection Act but no Right to Information Act,” he added. Prof. Cassola also claimed that an internal MEPA report revealed that not enough time had been allowed for MEPA officials to assess the rationalisation exercise leading to the extension of development boundaries into green areas.
According to Vincent Gauci of MEPA’s Environment Protection Directorate, everyone “loves to hate MEPA” but the fact is that there is no other government body that has a similar website or holds public consultations like MEPA does. Admitting that MEPA’s website might need to be revamped to make it more user-friendly, he maintained that MEPA is very open to suggestions from the public. His colleague Frans Mallia of the Forward Planning Unit explained the process of public consultation, adding that “no objections had yet been received over the contentious issue of waiving EIAs as proposed by the new regulations”.
The MEPA representatives were then kept busy answering questions relating to access to information and planning issues. Ms Vella said the final local plans presented for Sliema and other places bore little resemblance to what had been proposed during the public consultation years earlier. She added: “Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar recognises that planning decisions are crucial to environmental and human health.”
Some members of the public called for better access to information and respect for public consultation and safety issues. Others complained about the lack of local redress on planning issues and inconsistent guidelines, procedures and decisions. The Ombudsman’s gagging of the Sant Antnin report was brought up. A town planner raised the question of the unsuitability of foreign planning models, especially tall buildings, and questioned the wisdom of increasing building in the countryside at the same time as encouraging the construction of skyscrapers. The preservation of Valletta’s integrity was also brought up.
The MEPA officials were hard put to answer all the questions, but agreed that the lively but respectful debate, very ably chaired by Dr Edward Scicluna, was a good opportunity for them to take the public’s concerns on board and pledged to tackle them further with the MEPA hierarchy. Interestingly, the audience was peppered with employees from MEPA, the Ministry of the Environment and even ADT.
Participants at the Forum also signed a petition in support of a proposed ban on the sanctioning of illegal developments in green areas, backing Minister Pullicino in his call for a stop to the practice of sanctioning illegal buildings in areas outside the development zone (ODZ). The petition urged Cabinet to unite and approve the Minister’s bid while taking all necessary measures to draw up, implement and enforce the necessary legislation to stop rampant development in the countryside without further delay.
Environment Minister George Pullicino had vowed that the abusive practice of sanctioning, which is ruining the countryside, would be brought to a halt. It appears that Cabinet is not willing to listen to him and has delayed legislating for this key regulation to stop urban sprawl.
Refreshments were served when the forum came to an end but the discussions continue unabated as members of FAA and the public mixed with the panel members, comparing notes, experiences and opinions.