The undersigned environmental NGOs wish to bring to the attention of the public that the term of Mr. Romano Cassar, their representative on the Planning Board, was not renewed as of the 22nd of July 2025.
The Minister for Gozo and Planning has instead appointed Perit Jorge Spiteri as their representative on the Planning Board. This has been done against the provisions of Development Planning Act which state that the planning board should have:
“a member representing the interests of environmental NGOs, who shall be chosen from amongst a number of persons nominated by the said NGOs”.
None of the undersigned environmental NGOs, which are the major environmental NGOs in Malta, were contacted about this matter. Still less could they have nominated Perit Jorge Spiteri to this post.
The NGOs are demanding that the appointment of Perit Jorge Spiteri be rescinded and that the environmental NGOs be allowed to nominate their own representatives as specified in article 63 (2) (e) of the Development Planning Act.
The NGOs wish to remark that the board is now not regularly composed and that this may compromise the legality of the decisions taken by the board going forward.
The NGOs note that the term of Mr. Romano Cassar was not renewed after the latter condemned the sanctioning of the massive Monterkristo illegal development as “sending the wrong message to the public that people can do whatever they want and apply for sanctioning later”.
The NGOs also wish to thank Perit Jorge Spiteri who immediately notified the NGOs of this appointment and acknowledged this anomalous situation.
Signed
Ramblers Association of Malta
Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Aħjar
Birdlife Malta
Din l-Art Ħelwa
Nature Trust Malta
Moviment Graffitti
Għawdix
Wirt Għawdex