Environment Commissioner slams Mepa demerger, blaming it for lack of protection
The Commissioner for the Environment and Planning, David Pace, has slammed the Mepa demerger, blaming it for a lack of protection of the environment that followed the demerger.
Commissioner Pace, wrote to Minister Jose Herrera and Parliamentary Secretary Deborah Schembri to express his reservations.
He said that it was now evident that planning considerations were being given far greater weight than environmental ones when deciding on project approvals.
Good governance principles had been ignored in the Planning Authority’s approval process for a 38-storey skyscraper in Sliema, he wrote. At that crucial meeting, ERA chairman Victor Axiak missed the meeting due to illness, and a statement he wrote outlining his views was not read out at the Planning Authority board hearing.
Mr Pace argued that denying the PA board the chance to hear the ERA’s views “runs entirely against transparency and accountability rules” and breaks all fundamental principles concerning the right to a fair hearing. The fact that the PA was able to forge ahead despite an ERA representative not being present and the authority’s views not being heard simply highlighted how inadequate existing laws were from an environmental protection point of view.
Mr Pace also highlighted a series of other concerns:
- Despite being on paper on an equal footing, the ERA was evidently far less powerful than the PA.
- Concerns about the dangers of demerging planning and environmental regulatory functions had already been raised by Mr Pace in September 2015.
- Development had to be seen as something that affected the environment, rather than environmental issues considered as something that might affect development.
- ERA reports should be included among planning documents made available to the public.
- A project should be denied planning permission if the ERA expresses reservations about it, as already happens if public health concerns are raised.
Mr Pace’s letter was also sent to the Prime Minister, the Opposition leader and the PA Chairman.