Last week marked the end of a consultation period relative to a proposal by the Planning Authority to amend the Development Notification Order of 2016 in order to hand a blank cheque to the public sector relative to the development of greening projects. The Development Notification Order, or the DNO, as it is more commonly referred to, is a simplified procedure for the issuing of land use planning development permits which has been in use in various formats over a number of years. Originally launched as a General Development Order, way back in 1997, the DNO is intended to facilitate and expedite the issuance of development permits in respect of minor developments which normally have little to no negative impact on specific third parties or on the community at large.
In fact, the 2016 DNO contains a list of 24 classes of development to which this simplified procedure currently applies. This varies from various minor types of alterations to buildings, the formation of schemed roads and minor infrastructural developments and public utility services. Also included within the parameters of the DNO are beach facilities, change of use of airport structures for aviation purposes as well as a multitude of other matters.
Over the years, in 2013, this procedure was widened to include building development in industrial estates. Even development carried out by the Armed Forces and the Civil Protection Department in their facilities have been included in the DNO: an inclusion which the legislator sought to justify on the basis of issues of national security.
It is pertinent to point out that the DNO process, as existent today, prior to implementing the proposals to hand this blank cheque to the public sector, already provides for the expeditious handling of greening projects by the Planning Authority. In fact, Class 24 of the DNO, as existent today, already provides for Urban Greening projects by government agencies, local councils and other entities. At present this is however limited in scope.
The intention of the Planning Authority in the published proposal is clearly not just to widen the applicability of the DNO to areas outside the development zone (ODZ) but also to include large scale regulatory exemptions for the construction of buildings and all sorts of facilities, if these form part of a so-called greening project. As a result of this, public scrutiny will be eliminated as there will be no possibility for third parties, including environmental NGOs, to object to the proposed development when this is classified as a greening project. Nor will decisions taken on greening projects be subject to appeal. The public sector will in effect be exempted from quite a chunk of land use planning law and policy in respect of greening projects. The rule of law in environmental matters will be severely curtailed when the actor is the public sector.
We ought to also give some consideration to the Jean-Paul Sofia public inquiry conclusions in its 484-page report. Readers may remember that among the considerations of the public inquiry led by Ombudsman Judge Joseph Zammit McKeon one finds detailed testimony by various witnesses as well as comments by the Board of Inquiry as to why the DNO procedure was a contributory factor, among many others, which led to the death of Jean-Paul Sofia at Corradino Industrial Estate. The inquiry report, in its conclusion number xxxviii, specifically recommends that development in industrial estates should be removed from the DNO process and that this development should be subjected to the full development regulatory process, thus being subject to a full public oversight.
The Planning Authority proposals to widen the DNO process to include the construction of structures and facilities being part of greening projects without having them subject to the regulatory oversight of the land use planning process signifies that the Planning Authority has not learnt anything from the Jean-Paul Sofia death. All scrutiny, internal and external to the Planning Authority, is, as result of this proposal being thrown overboard.
The proposal to amend the DNO will practically grant the public sector the right to act without being subject to any form of regulation. It is back to the stone age of land use planning in Malta. A recipe for abuse on a scale which should have been disposed of in the dustbin of history long ago. Instead, it is being resurrected. Back to the future.
An architect and civil engineer, the author is a former Chairperson of ADPD-The Green Party in Malta. [email protected] , http://carmelcacopardo.wordpress.com