It was in May 1995 that the first local plan relative to Marsaxlokk Bay was approved. That was 29 years ago. The approval of other local plans followed, at a snail's pace. The first to follow was the local plan for the Grand Harbour Area which was approved in April 2002.

Then panic followed. On the eve of the coming into force of the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive of the EU, in early August 2006, the then PN government rushed through the approval of the other five local plans, in order to avoid the impacts of the directive. These were the Central, Gozo and Comino, North Harbour, North West and South local plans.

To add insult to injury these local plans were supplemented by a a Rationalisation of Development Zone Boundaries exercise, as a result of which, around two million square metres of ODZ land, an area the size of the locality of Siggiewi, overnight, became suitable for development.

The Labour Party, then in Opposition, spoke against this Rationalisation of Development Zone Boundaries exercise and even voted against its adoption in Parliament. I do clearly remember that the Labour Party leadership, then, lobbied the environmental NGOs to take a leading role in the national protest which was planned against this land use planning mess, in summer 2006.

In view of all this, one would have expected that the Labour Party in government would have taken immediate action to cancel the Rationalisation of Development Zone Boundaries exercise. As readers are well aware, it did nothing of the sort.

The consideration of local plans and the associated land use planning process is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, it has been reduced to an exercise of political manoeuvring.

Consider, for example, the current consultation exercise launched by the Planning Authority on instructions from Cabinet. The consultation exercise, so far, does not contain the specific proposals amending the local plans. It is rather a consultation on the objectives or terms of reference as to the changes which will eventually be proposed.

Naturally missing from these terms of reference are two fundamental issues: the cancellation of the Rationalisation exercise and the identification of specific measures to address the commercialisation of the coast and ensure that at all times and places access to all is guaranteed.   

The commercialisation of the coast and coastal areas has to stop before it engulfs the few open spaces left undeveloped along the coast or in its vicinity.

Through amendments to the Civil Code in what is known as the Public Domain Act, Parliament has, some time ago, approved legislation to protect the coast and to increase access to the public as a result. This legislative action unfortunately has so far proven to be another gimmick. If it were to be in any way effective this legislation would have nipped in the bud the proposed Villa Rosa development as it goes against both the letter and the spirit of this legislation. Yet the land use planning consultation is silent about this.

Also missing is a studied reaction from the Planning Authority in response to the MHRA study of two years ago which had identified a substantial over-provision of tourism accommodation. Readers will undoubtedly remember the study, entitled Carrying Capacity Study for Tourism in The Maltese Islands, which had quantified the tourism accommodation glut. As a result of existing tourist accommodation, together with that approved but still in the pipeline, close to 5 million tourists would be required every year (at an average 80 per cent occupancy throughout the year). This is what the Planning Consultation on Villa Rosa should consider. Instead of addressing the glut, the indications are that the Planning Authority will now seek how to make it worse!

Rather than tinkering with bits and pieces of the different local plans, the planning authority should present for the public's consideration new local plans which address the real land use planning problems.

An architect and civil engineer, the author is a former Chairperson of ADPD-The Green Party in Malta.  [email protected] ,   http://carmelcacopardo.wordpress.com