Labour backbencher says planning bills should have gone to public consultation

Labour MP Edward Zammit Lewis poured scorn on his own government for not taking recent planning reforms to public consultation before being tabled in parliament.

During a Tuesday interview on F Living, Zammit Lewis said that the government made a political blunder by tabling the bills in parliament without prior consultation.

“I don’t know who the prime minister got his advice from on this. I wasn’t involved in the drafting of these bills. Even if these advisers are legal geniuses, I don’t think they were politically bright,” he said.

Zammit Lewis, also a former minister, said the law was tabled at a time when the parliament would usually be in summer recess.

Regardless, the biggest issue was that the government tabled the laws without prior consultation.

“We’re in politics, which is more complex than law. Procedurally, the way things happened, it leaves much to be desired. There should be public consultation, even if it was the best law to be drafted in this legislature.”

Speaking to MaltaToday on Wednesday, Zammit Lewis said the government was duty-bound to carry out consultations on such matters through the Strategic Environmental Assessment Regulations, but even beyond legal obligations, it would have been politically correct to go for a public consultation.

“There is a silent majority of people who want more environmental protection, better planning, legal certainty. There aren’t people who will speak out on Facebook or form part of organised lobby groups,” he said.  

Last week, the government published Bill 143 and Bill 144 that will amend the Development Planning Act and the law regulating the Environment and Planning Tribunal respectively.

The proposed changes grant more discretionary power to planning boards to deviate from policies; limit the court’s ability to revoke permits; and limit appeals to the grounds stated in objections filed before a project is approved.

The reform also suggests that the most recent policy changes will override local plans and the overarching Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED).

This reform was supposed to be a simple change to stop development from taking place while a permit is being appealed, but it ended up being a major overhaul of the planning system that was never consulted on.