Reference is made to an article in The Malta Independent on Sunday of 17 June under the heading U-turn coming on energy prices. In his comments, Noel Grima concludes by questioning whether there is any correlation between initial signs of pre-election give-aways and the publication of an extraordinary number of planning decisions in The Malta Independent on Saturday, 16 June.

The answer is absolutely not, but the Authority would like to take this opportunity to explain why in the Saturday’s weekly newspaper advert, 185 planning decisions were published – 92 more than the average weekly.

The Authority recently published Legal Notice 116/12 which introduced a number of new procedures when dealing with planning applications. One of these new procedures relates to the publication of a decision notice. Prior to this amendment, the Authority would never publish or issue a granted development permit unless an applicant has adhered to or submitted all the requirements specified in the permit conditions. This old procedure precluded a statutory objector from lodging an appeal against a decision until such time that the decision notice was published and issued. Most cases relate to planning applications which are approved subject to the payment of a planning gain contribution or a bank guarantee.

To address this issue, the Authority introduced an amendment which allows an applicant 30 days to comply with the decision requirements. In the eventuality that the applicant defaults, a Non-Executable Permission is issued and the decision is published in the press. Through this new procedure, statutory objectors can now immediately exercise their rights in front of the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal on all approved planning applications decisions.

Additionally, through the introduction of this new system, applicants will be in a position to settle any monetary requirements only a few weeks before they intend to start work, although the five-year validity of a planning permit will now commence immediately once the decision has been taken and is published.

The 92 “extra” planning decisions that appeared in the Saturday notice in The Malta Independent were nothing more than granted planning decisions which qualified for Non-Executable Permissions under this new legal notice.

Peter Gingell

Communications Manager

Malta Environment & Planning Authority