In deciding to consider changes in the boundaries of the development zones of Malta and Gozo, and to do so prior to the next election as opposed to after it, the Lawrence Gonzi government has taken a huge gamble – a gamble to which not everyone within the Cabinet subscribed.

It is true that the 1988 temporary development schemes were drawn up hurriedly by Minister Michael Falzon to stem the spread of urban sprawl, which, under Minister Lorry Sant and the MLP government, had reached mammoth proportions.

It is also true that the PN election manifesto had promised to address anomalies and injustices, whereas it is now speaking of rationalisation.

But it is also true that to even imagine the opening of the door to further areas for development unleashes powerful forces that are especially powerful within the PN structure and which, even now that the decision has been taken and made public, will militate to push the boundaries even further.

After all, owning a field on one side of a country lane instead of on the other can make a huge difference – between using it to grow potatoes and turning it into a goldmine.

Around 90 per cent of the requests to widen the development zone are due to end in disappointment, Environment Minister George Pullicino told the press last week. “If one were to accept all the submissions for Gozo alone, one would end up with 15 Marsalforns,” said the minister.

The following are the areas which, it seems, will not qualify under this rationalisation scheme:

• the left-hand side of the road leading to Selmun;

• the area in front of Tal-Mirakli church in Lija, which is very sensitive agricultural land;

• the area considered for the golf course, even though parts of this land has already been divided into plots and sold: this is a sensitive area and is not for building purposes;

• the huge tract of land at Bahrija;

• and also land sold by the church to engaged couples in the development zone but frozen by the 1988 temporary schemes.

The last detail is intriguing, as apparently there are still huge tracts of land, which somehow belong to the church, or to priests, and most of the hidden pressure on the government to widen the development boundaries has come, or is coming, from them.

Cabinet has also approved a series of criteria: no ecologically important or sensitive area is to be included, nor areas with agricultural land. The parcels of land to be included cannot be bigger than 17,000 square metres in Malta and 10,000 square metres in Gozo. The criteria differ for Gozo since there it is ribbon development along the ridges that has taken place, compared to Malta.

Cabinet has also agreed to release some areas (though not those in sensitive areas) where there is multi-ownership, where plots have already been identified and sold pre–1989 within what was then the development zone but which were later left out of the temporary schemes. This, for the government, is a social measure since these people paid for their plots and then could not use them, and have been living in rented accommodation ever since.

Despite the restrictions of the temporary schemes announced in 1988, according to The State of the Environment report for 2005, Malta’s built-up land area within the 1988 development boundary increased from 15.4 per cent of the islands’ land area in 1988 to 16.5 per cent in 2000 and 16.9 per cent in 2004. The past generation has seen Malta’s built-up area double. The rationalisation announced by the government will only add some 2.4 per cent to the built-up land area, including still to be built roads, and space earmarked for public purposes.

Yet with 23 per cent of homes standing empty in 1995, there is still a significant potential for improving the overall efficiency of land use in Malta, although one may equally foresee that this decision will continue to push towards the pulling down and rebuilding of buildings that is so prevalent in Malta, turning villas into apartments, etc.

Following a consultation process which starts tomorrow, the development scheme will be passed through Parliament before the summer recess and will be valid for 10 years. Considering that there has been no change in the development area since 1989, these changes are considered to add just three plots per locality between 1989 and 2016.