Appeals in Maltese development planning : a comparative study

Abstract

In chapter one the author starts by making a number of brief observations about the Development Planning Act. He then goes on to describe the Planning Authority, the Planning Appeals Board and the relationship between the two. Chapters two till five are based heavily on the judgements delivered by the Court of Appeal until December 1998. Through these judgements the Court of Appeal has determined a number of important issues such as who is to be considered as an aggrieved person and what amounts to an appeal on a point of law decided by the Planning Appeals Board. The Court of Appeal has also confirmed that emphasis in applications for appealing to the Planning Appeals Board is to be placed on the contents of the applications submitted to the Planning Appeals Board and not on their form. Also that the Courts have little say in planning issues and that judicial review is limited, partly due to Section 469A of the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure. In chapters six till eight, the author describes in some detail English and Irish planning legislation and the right of appeal from development planning decisions in the two countries. He then goes on to draw a number of conclusions and give his own views on the three systems. England and Ireland were chosen by the author because both are sources of the Maltese Development Planning Act. In chapter nine the author starts off by describing the right of appeal from decisions of the Commissioner for Inland Revenue to the Board of Special Commissioners The situation under the Income Tax Management Act is surprisingly similar to that under the Development Planning Act, but there are some subtle distinctions which the author pinpoints. For instance the Income Tax Management Act grants a further right of appeal to the Court of Appeal on a question of law and not on a point of law decided by Board. The author examines the implications of the legislator's choice of words. In the second part of chapter nine the author deals with the right of appeal from decisions of Courts of First Instance, of the Rural Leases Control Board and the Rent Regulation Board. These three laws and the right of appeal therefrom bear little similarity with the Development Planning Act but the author stilldescribes them and makes a number of observations. Chapter ten is based on a series of interviews conducted with a number of legal practitioners who were very ready both to praise and to criticise the system as it stands today as well as to suggest ways of improving it. To their views the author goes on to add his own.