NGOs sound alarm on ‘early Christmas gift’ regularisation of ODZ illegalities

15 organisations are calling on the public to immediately object to what they called an early Christmas gift to law-breaking developers, referring to a legal amendment that will wipe out Outside Development Zone (ODZ) boundaries and regularise more illegal development.

The NGOs, which include Din l-Art Ħelwa, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA), Moviment Graffitti, Għawdix, and Malta Youth in Agriculture (MaYA) amongst others, said the 14-day “public consultation sham” made the public’s objection “as urgent as it can possibly be.”

The Planning Authority’s proposed amendments to the 2016 Regularisation of Existing Development Regulations – a scheme which was supposed to last only two years but was extended indefinitely – will now allow anyone who built on sites “partially” outside the development zones, to pay a fine to legalise their irregularities.

While the original 2016 regularisation scheme only accepted sites within development boundaries, the new scheme refers to sites which encroach on ODZ, and will also include illegal development which goes against policies.

“Policies which are supposed to prevent such development from being allowed will now be overruled by developers seeking to regularise their illegal developments in exchange for a paltry fine,” the NGOs said. “This allows developers to put their previously illegal properties on the market since banks would then be in a position to finance agreements when they otherwise would not do so.”

The new ODZ scheme even allows for properties served with enforcement notices predating 2016 to get regularised, as long as a pre-2016 permit is in hand.

“Different to other planning applications, regularisation requests are not published, people cannot send their objections during a representation period, and the decisions of the Planning Commission on these applications cannot be appealed,” the NGOs said.

Rather than closing down the 2016 regularisation scheme as was originally promised, the government will be widening its already contested scope.

“While its lenient readings of its own policies and its failure to enforce rules have already weakened ODZ boundaries over the years, the PA is now going to fuel more ODZ development if the amendment becomes law,” the NGOs said.

The PA states that the widening of the scheme will accommodate “certain property owners” unable to place their properties on the market or obtain a bank loan on the house due to an irregularity which is non sanctionable, and which took place before 2016.

“While it’s ridiculous that we even have to say this out loud, we must point out that the PA’s function isn’t to enable business in the property market but to commit to its planning policies and ensure developers fall in line with policies meant to safeguard the environment,” the NGOs said.

“What is even more shameful is that the Labour Party, headed by former PA lawyer and current prime minister Robert Abela, had promised stricter controls on ODZ development during this year’s general election.”

The NGOs said that should this amendment be approved, the scheme will do the exact opposite and allow developers who repeatedly ignored ODZ boundaries, to get legal approval for the daylight robbery of non-developed spaces.

Over 19,500 regularisation applications were filed since the original scheme was launched in 2016. “With this amendment, we are set to see legal approval for thousands of additional illegal developments. Our ODZ boundaries must be protected, and we insist that this amendment must not be allowed to go through,” the NGOs said.

Planning Authority reacts

The Planning Authority however is saying the proposed amendments are only being widened to include pre-August 2016 developments which have their site perimeter partially beyond the development boundaries, as well developments located entirely within a Category 1 Rural Settlement or included in the 2006 Local Plans.

The category of development which are partially located outside development zone boundary can only be regularised if these were originally covered with a development permit.

Therefore, the regulations as proposed only seek the regularisation for deviations from the original permit, and no such regularisation applies for developments for which no permit exists on the site.

Additionally, sites completely located outside the development zone boundary shall not be eligible for regularisation.

“The introduction of these regulations did not accommodate ‘big developers’ as claimed by the eNGOs but were clearly targeted to address relatively minor, non-conformant issues that households are facing when coming to sell, or use their property as a guarantee for finance.

“In fact, since the introduction of these regulations in 2016, the Authority received over 19,500 applications. The Authority refutes the claim that ‘Regularisation requests are not published, unlike planning applications, and the public cannot make objections during a representation period.’ All regularisation applications are published weekly and the public can submit an objection. Additionally, same as with PA applications, a site notice is affixed to the site of any property seeking to be regularised.”

MDA reaction

The Malta Developers Association issued a reaction, stating that its members “are not interested in the regularisation of property in ODZ”, but said it backs the amendments and would be submitting amendments.

“Developers buy within the development zone and apply according to the planning policies,” the MDA said, insisting that it was against any type of development in the countryside.

“The legal notice amendments issued for public consultation are a measure which will assist those many families that today cannot regularise a property within an ODZ area. These are properties which although covered with a building permit, have non-conformities which were allowed to take place over a number of years.

“Thousands of families cannot regularise their only property and whilst MDA is sensitive to the needs of these families, it will therefore be backing the legal notice and will be submitting some slight amendments to improve the said legal notice.”