The news that Johann Buttigieg will be appointed as CEO of the Planning Authority again has stirred up a hornet's nest.

Buttigieg's original run at the head of the Authority was during a time when controversial policy decisions were taken. The fuel station policy that resulted in uproar over takeup of ODZ land, leading to the policy eventually getting revised; certain building height policies; the highly contentious Paceville Master Plan - which was seen to be pandering to developers and was shelved following uproar and there was no revision in favour of what people would have ideally wanted; and many controversial planning decisions.

Today, the country is suffering from poor planning due to past and present leadership. This is due to the shortcomings of many who headed the authority over the years, and of the ministers in charge of planning. But in order to fix the problems that the country has in this area, the government should look towards bringing in new people who are able to change things, and not look back.

The way the Planning Authority acted under Buttigieg creates concerns as to what a possible revision of the local plans would look like.  Buttigieg 's time at the helm also saw controversial situations. In 2018 Buttigieg was found to have authorised the use of over €8,000 to be paid for a board member of the PA to fly to and from Malta by private jet on the eve of a board meeting regarding the db Group's Pembroke city centre project. Buttigieg was also the subject of controversy over Whatsapp chats with Yorgen Fenech in 2019. When Buttigieg was at the Malta Tourism Authority, he had also handed down a consultancy contract to Konrad Mizzi when the latter stepped down as tourism minister at height of the political crisis in 2019, which was then scrapped.

While the news of his appointment was congratulated by the National Building Council (NBC) - a partnership between the Malta Development Association and the Chamber of Architects - serious concerns were raised by others.

Repubblika brought up the Yorgen Fenech chats, and said that Buttigieg "told him: 'Whenever you want, we can do business.' We note that Johann Buttigieg made this statement while he was Chief Executive of the Planning Authority and at a time when it was publicly known that Yorgen Fenech was the owner of 17 Black. How can we trust a Chief Executive of the Planning Authority who openly expressed willingness to do business like this?" ADPD said that Buttigieg is currently serving as a consultant to developer Michael Stivala, who is also president of the Malta Developers Association, and asked for an investigation by the Standards Commissioner into his appointment to the PA. "Even if one were to ignore the controversies that Buttigieg was involved in when he served as PA CEO in the past, it is difficult to understand how Buttigieg can jump from being a consultant to a developer to running the regulator in the same sector," ADPD said. The PN also criticised the government for turning back the clock with this move. The news was also criticised by others.

If the government wants to truly fix the planning issues that the country is facing, then a serious rethink of the way the Planning Authority has been run and operates is needed. The country needs an authority that truly watches over the interests of the people and the beauty of the country, and not one that allows the country's uglification.

This means the authority must change from what it has been over the past years. Looking to past leadership to accomplish that is not the way forward.