Government intent on addressing planning anomaly after Court rulings in Gozo developments

A high-ranking government source has voiced concerns over inconsistencies in Malta’s urban planning laws, calling for immediate legal reforms to bring clarity and fairness to the process.  The reforms promise to raise the ire of environmental NGOs who will see the reform as a red flag. 

“There is a need for amendments in planning laws so that, ultimately, development can proceed according to the most recent policies rather than those from 30 years ago. In addition, the current situation is creating discrimination and inconsistency,” the official told GozoToday.

This comes amid rising conflicts from developers, green activists, and the public over conflicting court decisions that prioritise outdated local planning policies, leading to unequal treatment of development proposals.

At the centre of the problem is the precedence courts have given to Local Plans, last updated in 2006, over more recent policy guidance documents. These Local Plans, which date back almost 20 years, outline the broad parameters for development, such as building heights and land use. However according to the government, the legal framework has failed to adapt to changing urban needs, leaving room for confusion and inconsistency.  Green activists see the reforms as an attempt to favour more development and wrong interpretation of planning laws.

"The difficulty arises from the precedence that the courts interpret Local Plans should have over other policy guidance documents. The courts are deciding that the Local Plans, which are nearly 20 years old, should outweigh more recent policies that are intended to reflect today’s urban planning requirements," the senior official said.

They explained that while more recent policy guidance documents, like the 2015 Development Control Policy Guidance (DC15), are designed to modernise development rules, courts often still refer to the outdated Local Plans when ruling on planning disputes. The Local Plans, he emphasised, no longer reflect the realities of Malta’s current development landscape.

"For example, under current policies, a building on a particular road might be permitted to have four stories and a penthouse based on the more up-to-date DC15, but if an objection is raised and the court refers back to the Local Plans from 2006, that same building could be reduced to three stories and a penthouse, even though the height is exactly the same. This results in inconsistencies, such as entire streets with four-story buildings except for one development that’s limited to three, simply because of how the law is interpreted," he added.

One of the most prominent recent cases in Gozo demonstrates the chaos that has ensued from this outdated legal framework. A well-known Gozitan contractor—frequently named in both media and activist circles—had his construction site shut down after it was ruled illegal. However, another development just next to it continued without issue, having passed court review without any objections. This stark contrast in how projects are treated has ignited debates about the fairness and effectiveness of the current system.

"The courts’ interpretation of the law is not because these more recent policy guidance documents are irrelevant or incorrect for assessing today’s development proposals. It’s simply because the law still envisions that the older Local Plan policies should take precedence," the senior official said.

He argued that these legal interpretations are not only causing confusion but also fostering perceptions of discrimination among developers. Some projects are allowed to proceed while others are blocked, even when they face similar circumstances, simply because one falls under an outdated policy while the other adheres to a newer one. Additionally, there are concerns that projects by well-known developers may face objections, while those by less prominent developers proceed unnoticed.

“There is an urgent need for amendments in planning laws to ensure that the spirit of the most recent policies prevails, rather than policies that are 30 years old,” the official said. “This would allow development to proceed in a way that reflects the real needs of the present day, rather than sticking to outdated frameworks that no longer serve their purpose.”

He also hinted at a growing perception that some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) might be weaponised by competing commercial interests to obstruct developments. While he did not delve deeply into this claim, he suggested that reforms could help cut down on abuses of the system. 

"What's clear is that reforms are needed not only to streamline how the Planning Authority and courts interpret these policies but to ensure that development aligns with the intent of modern guidelines, rather than becoming bogged down by outdated rules.”