The government has launched a 1-month public consultation on its proposal that all development works to a planning application would be suspended on the submission of an appeal, among other related changes.
On Tuesday morning, the government announced its awaited planning appeals reform through a public consultation that will last one month.
Planning Minister Jonathan Attard said that these amendments to planning laws will be heard in Parliament following its upcoming summer recess. Parliament is expected to discuss this reform later this September, with its First Reading to be tabled on Tuesday.
Through this reform, if approved as proposed, any permit faced with an appeal will face an automatic suspension once the appeal has been formally filed to the Planning Authority.
For as long as the suspension applies, construction works, demolition, excavations, changes of area use, and other rights or benefits arising from a permit will not be permitted.
The suspension will remain valid until a final decision on the appeal has been taken by the Planning Authority's Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT), or by the Court of Appeal, should this decision be contested and proceedings subsequently extended.
As outlined by Minister Attard and the Prime Minister on Tuesday morning, the reform aims to address the situation at present, where works on a development application may commence as soon as the permit is granted - even when an appeal (or several objections on the same application) is filed.
Prime Minister Robert Abela said that currently, the present system can lead to uncertainty for objectors and permit holders alike.
He said that this has caused significant deficiencies and difficulties to people's quality of life on the Maltese islands, including instances where some innocent citizens effectively wasted their life savings on a plot that was fully developed during the appeals process before later being deemed illegal and having its permit revoked after its construction.
Prime Minister Abela said that through this reform, his government is proposing a balanced solution that offers legal certainty.
The entire appeals process will have stricter statutory limits for how long proceedings must take before a final decision on any given appeal is given.
In addition, an electronic registry will also be utilised to advise the public that a specific permit has been suspended.
Notices on a given permit will also be distributed via e-mail. Minister Attard, who served as the Minister for Justice last legislature, noted that the notifications process previously contributed to a lengthier process and that digitalisation is being counted upon to make the entire process more efficient.
Timeline of appeals process, as proposed
The reform also includes stricter timelines for how long after an appeal has been formally submitted to the Planning Authority that a final decision on the permit's legality must be given.
Government is proposing that once an appeal is formally submitted against a development application, a public notice is given three days later.
The first sitting on this appeal will be heard within 30 days after the submission of the appeal.
The PA tribunal will have six months to reach a final decision on an appeal. To help it abide by this time constraint, the EPRT will be given judicial assistance for the compilation of documents and evidence, Minister Attard said.
After the tribunal has come to a final decision, parties will have a 20-day window to take this case to the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal will then have four months to come up with its own final decision of whether to approve a permit, revoke it, or send the case back to the PA tribunal for further consideration.
The Court of Appeal can apply for a two-month extension, to extend its time limit to give its final decision to six months total.
Minister Attard told journalists that he has “no doubt” that these deadlines will be upheld.
The EPRT’s six-month window may be extended if all parties agree. Such a scenario would not affect the permit’s suspended status.
In last summer’s controversial, shelved planning bills, Bills 143 and 144, the government had proposed that the EPRT is given five months to come up with a decision, and the Court of Appeal four months – both with the possibility to apply for a one-month extension. Now, the EPRT will be given six months outright, while the Court of Appeal is being pitched to have an extra month for consideration.
Permit’s automatic suspension to remain in place in case of procedural delays
Under this proposed planning appeals reform, a permit’s automatic suspension will be retained should procedural delays cause the appeals process to take longer than stipulated. This permit suspension will continue automatically should any party take the case to the Court of Appeal following the EPRT’s final decision and if the Court of Appeal sends the case back to the tribunal.
If the case is sent back to the PA tribunal, the EPRT must see that its final decision aligns with the Court’s judgement. Measures are also being imposed to deter continuous referrals between the tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
If any developer continues on with works while the planning application is under appeal, and therefore suspended, authorities will enforce this as a breach to the Planning Act, thus effectively imposing penalties equivalent to that of an illegal development. This may translate to an enforcement notice, daily fines (which vary depending on the location), and potentially even criminal proceedings.
The only works permissible under automatic suspension are emergency interventions, under strict legal parameters, for instance due to public safety concerns.
The one other exception to exist with this automatic suspension lies in the Cabinet of Ministers. For cases of strategic importance and public interest, the Cabinet will have limited powers to modify, limit, or disapply the suspension, subject to Court changes.
Where multiple appeals have been filed against the same planning application, the EPRT will look to compile them and hear them all on the same day, so that its decision is based on the whole picture, rather than just one appeal, to avoid duplication, delays, and inconsistent decisions.
Rather than imposing new laws, these changes will amend existing planning laws – specifically Chapter 551 with legal consequences affecting Chapter 552 as well. It is hoped for this automatic suspension approach to serve as an effective remedy without any unjust delays.
This planning appeals reform will not apply to any pending appeals upon its introduction; this revised system will apply to permits issued on or after its commencement. Any pending appeals being heard would remain governed under the previous legal framework, i.e., the present one at the time of writing.
Permit holders are safeguarded by the law should their permit expire during the appeals process. The time spent under this automatic suspension will not count against the permit’s validity period.
Several controversial points from last summer’s wider planning reform, from those pertaining to planning appeals, have been scrapped. The reform made public on Tuesday lays no mention of penalising vexatious appeals through a €5,000 fine, as was suggested in August last year.
Last August, NGO representatives fighting against the introduction of the planning bills, Bills 143 and 144, had praised the recommendation for planning applications to be automatically suspended once under appeal, though had strongly condemned everything else that was proposed. Speaking to this newsroom, they had publicly called those shelved planning bills “a developer’s wishlist” and even called last summer’s public consultation exercise for those bills as “farcical.”
It is hoped for this planning appeals reform to come into force before the end of this year, Minister Attard told journalists, with discussions looking to begin after Parliament’s summer recess this September.