Momentum raises concerns over Cabinet power in planning appeals reform

Momentum raised concerns on a “serious loophole” in the government’s proposed reform of the planning appeals system, which would give Cabinet the power to lift the automatic suspension of works in cases deemed to be of “strategic significance.”

Under current law, development permits can be acted upon while they are still under appeal, meaning irreversible works may already have been carried out by the time a permit is revoked.

The proposed reform would introduce the automatic suspension of works once a qualifying appeal is filed, with the suspension remaining in place until the case is decided.

“This is a long-overdue measure and essential in any fair planning system,” Momentum said, welcoming the proposal.

“An appeal is currently of little value because construction can continue while the appeal is being considered, leaving communities to challenge a development only after it has already been built.”

However, the party zeroed in on a provision written into the proposed reform allowing Cabinet to lift the automatic suspension in individual cases, enabling development to proceed while an appeal is still ongoing.

Momentum said this raises a fundamental question: who decides what constitutes the national interest, and on the basis of which objective and transparent criteria?

“If Cabinet can override an automatic suspension whenever a project is considered strategically significant or in the national interest, then the protection is no longer truly automatic,” Momentum General Secretary Mark Camilleri Gambin said.

The party called on the government to close what it described as a loophole and ensure that politically convenient exceptions cannot undermine the right of appeal.

If such a provision is retained, Momentum said any exception to the automatic suspension should be narrowly defined, based on objective criteria, fully transparent, and subject to strong independent scrutiny.

Broad concepts such as “national interest” and “strategic importance”, it said, must not become a backdoor through which politically important developments can bypass the normal appeals process.

Momentum also argued that wider reforms to Malta’s planning laws are needed, particularly to address excessive height and density, the cumulative impact of development, infrastructure capacity, the protection of open spaces, and the character of villages.

It further called for stronger enforcement, saying it should not remain worthwhile for developers to breach planning rules and later regularise illegal development.

“This reform is a welcome first step,” Camilleri Gambin said. “Suspending works while an appeal is pending is important, but it does not change the planning policies against which those appeals are decided.”

While welcoming the move towards the automatic suspension of works, Momentum concluded that the measure is the bare minimum needed to restore fairness to the appeals process and should be seen only as a first step.