Earlier this month, the country’s Civil Code was amended to incorporate the Public Domain Bill that had been tabled as a Private Members Bill a little over a year ago by members of the Opposition. 

To echo the words of one of its co-sponsors, the new law represents a paradigm shift in terms of introducing unprecedented transparency, accountability and empowerment when it comes to the country’s natural and built heritage. It also introduces to the statute books that what is held by the government of the day is merely being held on behalf of the public and of future generations.

And the new law coming into force this month has not come a moment too soon given the rapid changes that the country appears to be experiencing, as is amply demonstrated by the illustration accompanying this leading article.

The bill itself as well as its unanimous approval by the House of Representatives represents a giant leap forward for the conservation of this country’s precious national cultural and historical heritage.

For far too long we have seen such heritage falling victim to development. At times the destruction has been glaringly obvious but in most cases, our heritage has been eaten away in a more insidious, piecemeal fashion.

But whatever the case, once a sensitive site is covered by concrete and development, there is no turning back – and given the rampant and at times unchecked development of the country in both the past and present, more must be done to safeguard what is actually left.

The new law, now that it is has been entered into the statute books, sees the government, the country’s largest landowner, imposing restrictions on itself when it comes to selling or transferring public property. The government will set itself limitations on the use of, ensure access to, and safeguard public land for current generations and the generations to follow.

Some areas can become public domain by their natural attributes, such as the seabed and subsoil, as well as the coast. Other types of areas for public domain listing are valleys, forested areas, nature reserves, open countryside, squares, forts and just about anything else that can be considered to be of cultural and/or historic value.

The concept of public domain land, unlike the situation in other EU states, has until now been an alien concept to Maltese law. With this new law, some public domain areas could still be declassified by the government in the public interest, but any such move would have to be submitted to parliamentary scrutiny, and it will also have to be returned to its natural, pristine state once the public interest is done with it.

It also opens up more and more property to be classified as being in the public domain, with NGOs being given the opportunity to recommend property and land to be classified as such, meaning that it would be classified as not being able to be used for commercial purposes and that the public will have to be granted access to it. And should the answer to such proposals be in the negative, the government will now have to furnish a detailed and convincing explanation as to why the request has been declined.

The new law, as witnessed by its unanimous approval in Parliament, has transcended party politics, even though it curtails the virtual carte blanche that the government has hitherto held over national assets and public land. The sort of abuse perpetrated by governments past and present – through the misappropriation of land in the countryside and on the coast, as well as concessions granted at sites of national heritage is now a thing of the past.

In fact, thanks to this bill, the government will no longer be able to simply sign away public land and properties as it sees fit, but it would, rather, have to answer to Parliament before doing so.

This new law becomes even more pertinent when one considers news such as that which this newspaper reports in today’s issue, of yet another mega-development on the cards for the St Julian’s area.

Now it will be up to the country’s NGOs and politicians, driven by public demand, to ensure this new law is utilised to its utmost to protect what is left of the country’s open spaces and to ensure they are not developed beyond the point of no return.

If we are to protect the patrimony that we have left for our benefit and for the benefit of future generations, we now have the legal instrument with which to do so.