Almost half of illegal development notices being ignored

The lack of a meaningful deterrent against the abuse of planning laws and inadequate fines has led to almost half of the illegalities declared by the Planning Authority being ignored.

The situation has become even more pronounced in at least 150 cases, where enforcement orders tied to daily fines have lost their effectiveness, as a €50,000 cap on fines was reached years ago, and no action has been taken by the authorities to rectify the situation.

New statistics published in Parliament show that, since 2013, the Planning Authority has issued a total of 3,715 enforcement orders. Ye, more than 1,500 cases remain unresolved.

Most of the issues concern development in rural and non-development zone areas, where developers have made illegal developments without first seeking a permit.

Asked by PN MP Stanley Zammit for a breakdown of the number of enforcement orders issued annually since 2013, Planning Minister Clint Camilleri said the highest number was issued in 2016, when the number surpassed 500.

According to the statistics, the Planning Authority has reduced its surveillance in recent years, as the number of enforcement notices issued has dwindled, despite an increase in the number of development permits approved.

The least number of enforcement notices issued in recent years was in 2022 – an election year.

The Planning Authority is bound to issue an enforcement notice when it encounters an illegality. These are typically issued following reports by the public or by the regulator’s in-house inspectors. But, in reality, no effective action is taken if a developer decides to ignore it.

Daily fines, starting at a ridiculous €2 per day, are imposed and increase gradually to up to € 50 per day if the illegalities persist.

The law then imposes a cap of €50,000 as the maximum fine that a developer can ever be charged.

This means that, for example, if Gozitan Developer Joseph Portelli decided in 2019 to build an illegal concrete batching plant in Gozo, the maximum fine imposed would be frozen once it reached €50,000. In the meantime, as is actually happening, he kept operating his illegal plant without hindrance, with the unwritten understanding that the Planning Authority is not going to close his illicit plant.

The daily fines were introduced by the former PN administration in 2012. Since then, the government has not changed or revised the rules.

According to a set of ‘reforms’ presented to Parliament at the start of the summer, the government is proposing increasing the daily fines related to illegalities to €2,000 per day.

However, this proposed revision has been bundled with other major reforms, granting the Planning Authority unprecedented powers, including the power to override Court decisions on illegal permits.