The Strategic Plan for Environment and Development (SPED) was approved at committee stage this evening. It includes last-minute amendments proposed by environmental NGOs.

SPED, which will replace the 1992 Structure Plan, was approved by the Parliamentary Environment, Planning and Development Committee, chaired by PL MP Marlene Farrugia, but the two PN MPs sitting on the committee, Marthese Portelli and Ryan Callus, abstained. They said that they were not against the structure plan but some matters, including “vague terminology,” needed to be clarified.

The original draft was amended after Labour MP Marlene Farrugia, the committee’s chairperson, had asked environmental NGOs Din l-Art Helwa and Friends of the Earth to put forward their recommendations. The decision had been criticized by fellow MP Deborah Schembri, who insisted that the eNGOs had had their chance to contribute during the consultation period. She argued that allowing them to put forward new proposals might create an unfair advantage because others might not have the opportunity to oppose the new proposals before they were included in the plan.

Dr Farrugia had argued that the original consultation exercise was “fake” and the eNGOs had insisted that practically none of the recommendations they had made had been included in the plan. The NGOs were invited to the committee and shown the document and were allowed to put forward their recommendations before the plan was amended.

Planning Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon said the amendments included in the SPED report include 90% of the eNGOs’ proposals. These include restrictions on the use of rural areas, the conservation of historical buildings and rubble walls, as well as the conservation of lands or buildings that do not only have a historical value but are also sites of natural beauty.

The report will not be debated in plenary before a final vote is taken.