Nine NGOs, in a united front, have expressed alarm at the Government’s intention to “plough ahead with a legislative package that would enable a total developers’ takeover of our planning system, while also regularising all sorts of illegalities across the country.”

In a joint statement the NGOs reiterated that the current “consultation process,” initiated by the Government at the beginning of August, is a “sham.”

They argued that “it is based on documents that are malicious in intent and structurally irreparable, as they have been crafted around the developers’ interests rather than the common good.”

In this context, the NGOs are calling on the public to urgently make their voices heard in order to “stop this unprecedented threat to our environment and quality of life. Individuals and communities are urged to submit objections by filling in the form provided here by the 7th of September.

The NGOs said that “he text below may be freely used for this purpose.”

“I strongly object to this legislative package, which dismantles planning safeguards, obstructs appeals against PA decisions, and rewards illegalities.

This consultation is a sham, launched only after two planning bills were secretly drafted and tabled in Parliament.

Bill 143 grants the PA unfettered powers, including rezoning areas and increasing building heights, effectively allowing ODZ designations to vanish overnight. Local Plans will be overridden by arbitrary, lower-level PA policies, rendering them meaningless. Planning Boards will no longer be obliged to consider environmental or sanitary constraints, and they may even disregard existing regulations altogether. Provisions on “vested rights” would shackle future governments from strengthening environmental protection.

Bill 144 seeks to curtail the public’s right to challenge harmful PA decisions. It strips the Court of its power to revoke illegal permits, limits appeals to narrowly defined legal grounds raised at objection stage, and imposes unrealistic deadlines. A non-independent tribunal would gain sweeping discretion, including the ability to alter plans mid-process.

The accompanying three legal notices amount to a blanket amnesty on illegal development, with no restrictions on size, scale, or location. Even ODZ and UCA areas would be covered, encouraging more abuse and cementing past illegalities.

This package was clearly devised in bad faith to satisfy developers at the expense of citizens’ rights, our environment, and quality of life. It must be withdrawn in full, and replaced by a genuine reform process starting with a White Paper guided by the common good, not the profits of the greedy few.”

The nine NGOs concluded by saying that “further actions will be announced in due course.”

The statement was signed by:

BirdLife Malta

Din l-Art Helwa

Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar

Friends of the Earth Malta

Ghawdix

Moviment Graffitti

Nature Trust – FEE Malta

Ramblers Association

Wirt Ghawdex.

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