Zoning requests that change way our towns look, kept secret

A fifth of zoning applications setting the parameters for future developments that were presented between 2018 and 2020, remain under wraps, their details still unavailable for viewing on the Planning Authority’s information system.

Up until May 2019, planning control applications were published on the PA’s website at the very beginning of the application process.

Subsequently, the PA removed all pending applications deemed to be “incomplete” – including zoning applications.

A PA spokesperson said a PC application cannot be validated unless all necessary documentation is submitted. “It is often the case that some documentation takes long to procure especially when a site has multiple owners.”

Moreover current legislation includes no timeframes for the automatic invalidation of these applications when the information is not provided within a required time-frame.

While the PA’s ‘suspension’ on normal planning applications was partly reversed, with the PA publishing details on permit requests deemed to require environmental impact assessments, this is not the case with zoning applications.

One of the PC applications pruned from the public information system was for a medium-rise development near the Australia Hall site in Pembroke. Another applications removed was that setting the parameters for development at the back of the Le Meridien car park in St Julian’s.

Zoning applications, known as planning control applications, set the planning parameters on matters like height, use and road access for particular sites. Subsequent planning permits are issued on the basis of these paramaters.

They cover a wide range of applications, from minor changes in road alignments, to proposals for large-scale developments. PC applications were also required to set the parameters of the infamous 2006 extension of building boundaries.

Sources in the Planning Authority told MaltaToday that although most missing zoning applications involve minor developments, like adjusting building lines, the list includes a couple of large tracts of land, which although within building zones, and located in sensitive areas on which ERA has already expressed strong reservations.

The PA justified taking off applications because its legal obligation to publish application details and related plans only arises when the application process is finalised. An application is only considered ‘complete’ when the application form is fully filled and all documentation required has been fully submitted.

Missing applications