New MEPA rules give minister power to regularise illegal development

The minister responsible for planning and MEPA – currently held by a parliamentary secretary under the Office of the Prime Minister – is to be granted blanket powers to regularise illegal development, according to proposal under a new MEPA policy.

The consultation document ‘For An Efficient Planning System’ released this week by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, states that “the minister can make regulations to regularise development”.

The document is a consultation paper on the proposed split of MEPA into separate environment and planning authorities.

Some of the proposed changes strengthen the Planning Authority’s enforcement arm, by enabling planning officers to enter a private dwelling after 7am – instead of 9am.

But the same document proposes that enforcement notices are suspended in all cases when someone asks the authority to regularise an illegal development: this means that when somebody wants to regularise an illegal development or illegal extension inside an ODZ (outside development zones) or scheduled area, any pending enforcement action is lifted.

Instead, ‘warning notices’ are to be introduced before issuing a “stop notice” which currently enable MEPA to take direct actions after the issue of an initial enforcement order.

The maximum period for enforcement notices to take effect will also be extended to 50 days, to allow planning offenders more time for compliance.

But in the case of an imminent injury to the  environment, the new authority shall have the power to issue an ‘emergency notice’ and proceed instantly with direct action, notwithstanding any pending appeal.

The onus of proof of illegality has also been squarely put on the authority, and not on the perpetrator of the illegality. 

According to the new rules, services like water and electricity provided on the basis of an irregular compliance certificate may also be suspended.

ODZ ‘no longer ODZ’

Under the proposed rules, the government intends removing the blanket ban on the regularisation of development outside development zones (ODZ) and scheduled areas like areas of ecological and scientific importance.

Article 70 of the Environment and Development Planning Act, enacted by the previous government in December 2010, prohibited MEPA from granting permits for illegal developments built in ODZ or scheduled areas.

The sixth schedule of the Environment and Development Planning Act also bans MEPA from regularising any illegal extension to ODZ development.

But according to the consultation document, the deletion of the sixth schedule will be replaced by the imposition of daily fines: ostensibly, this would mean that daily fines start incurring from the day somebody applies to regularise their illegal development, to the date that MEPA issues permission.

The document also proposes that if a building is constructed according to a valid permit, any conservation order which is issued at a later stage should not affect the rights acquired by the developer through the permit.

But no development can take place if a conservation order is issued before the development is commenced even if a permit has already been issued.