MEPA’s policy on ODZ to encourage further abuse – Church commission

The Maltese Catholic church's environment commission has expressed its concern over a policy for outside development (ODZ) construction, which the parliamentary secretariat for planning is proposing for agricultural holdings.

"The policy proposes to address a genuine demand for a certain type of agricultural development, but in its current form it opens more doors for abuse to be planned by anyone with a vested interest to profit at the expense of the environment. The result will be a devaluation of the environment for this present and future generations."

The commission issues regular opinions on the state of the environment and other draft policies penned by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

In its review on the new ODZ policy - which will allow disused farmland to turn into extensive 'agri-tourism' developments - the environment commission said the policy's own introduction gave wide berth to decision-makers on what sort of development could take place.

The policy states, in capitalised letters, that proposals not addressed by the same policy "may be considered on their own merits" if the deciding body feels the proposal will generate "an improvement to the area".

"Such a statement overturns any attempt at sensible or sustainable planning outside development zones. It should be the reverse, stating that decision makers will have no discretion whatsoever to ignore the self-same policy. Indeed, it should be applied rigorously," the commission said, saying the proviso was allowing the deciding body to subjectively decide what developments "improve" the environment.

The commission also questioned what sort of assessment of the ODZ draft policy was made, in terms of MEPA's yet-to-be-published strategic plan on environment and planning. "What indications are there of the demand for these new developments? What type of demand already exists? If there are no answers, MEPA would be creating a policy whose effect on the environment is not yet known."

The commission said it was small consolation that MEPA would demolish any such developments, whose permit is granted under the ODZ policy, if they are not used for a consecutive period of three years over the course of a 30-year period. "MEPA can hardly enforce the law against clear cases of abuse. This policy is actually encouraging abuse by allowing people to use such a building for 'only' 27 years."