Cabinet to discuss planning appeals reform bill on Tuesday

Planning appeals reform bill will go to Cabinet on Tuesday, before moving to Parliament for its second reading, Prime Minister Robert Abela has announced 

In an interview on Sunday, Abela said the central principle is that no works can start while an appeal is pending. He said the reform will make the system fairer. "The reason for this interest is that the reform essentially prevents construction or demolition from commencing while a permit is still subject to appeal," he said.

In May 2023, Abela vowed to change laws to suspend construction during planning appeals. The Cabinet approved a draft in September 2023, with a public consultation until November, but it was not implemented.

The reform was eventually put forward last year as part of a wider, controversial package of planning reforms that sparked outrage. 

Bill 143 and Bill 144, which went far beyond that original mandate, were tabled in parliament, proposing a radical overhaul of the planning system.

The bills limited the courts' ability to revoke permits, enhanced the discretionary powers of planning boards to deviate from policies, and restricted appeals to the grounds raised in objections filed before a project was approved.

He said the reform is close to his heart, "We took our time—we really did take our time—because we wanted to balance conflicting interests, and I think we succeeded in doing that," he said.

Abela said a contested permit can now be acted on, so demolition or construction can go ahead. "Now the entire appeal period must elapse before that permit can be utilised," he said.

But he said the government has also shortened the time it takes to resolve an appeal. He said this would apply to a family wanting to demolish an inherited house and build three apartments for four children, as much as to a large developer.

"So, from point A to point Z, you have certainty regarding the duration of the process—both before the tribunal and the Court of Appeal," he said, acknowledging the reform has drawn criticism.

He said further consultation was held over the summer. "Public consultation was held, yet no submission was made; the public, NGOs, and other organisations responded, but the opposition party did not submit anything," he said.

In August, the Nationalist Party defended its decision to launch a separate consultation on planning appeals reform after the government's consultation closed, saying it wants to assess how the proposed legislation would work in practice. 

PN planning spokesperson Rebekah Borg told MaltaToday the party fully supports the reform and has been urging government to advance it for years and that the consultation is meant to ensure that the reform does not have any unintended consequences.