Labour Party backbench MP Edward Zammit Lewis has said that the government’s controversial planning reforms need “widespread consultation” before moving forward.

Writing on social media, Zammit Lewis was referring to two separate bills which seek wholesale changes to Malta’s planning legislations – changes which many believe will allow developers a free reign to do as they please.

“I agree with Robert Abela that decisions have to be taken, as he has always done,” Zammit Lewis said.

“But it is clear and proper that the two bills tabled about planning deserve more thought and wide consultation so that a just equilibrium for everyone is reached,” Zammit Lewis continued.

The MP, who used to be Justice Minister, is the first member of the Labour Party’s parliamentary group to say that the laws that the government is putting forward need more consultation.

He joined the Labour Party’s President Alex Sciberras, who said that the reforms should be amended, in his critique of the proposed legislative reforms.

Bills 143 and 144 were published on the Parliament website on Friday afternoon as Parliamentary work continues, unusually, into the depths of summer.

Amongst the many changes, the proposed laws aim to suspend development permits once a formal appeal has been lodged. But various aspects of the bills have been heavily criticised, such as a reform that the Courts would no longer be allowed to outright revoke a permit during an appeal, and that the Planning Authority was being given discretion to deviate and amend planning policies as it wished.

The proposals have since been widely panned and described as a “developer’s wish list” by environmental NGOs and others.

In a press briefing in Gozo on Monday, Planning Authority CEO Johann Buttigieg said that a public consultation on the changes wasn’t held in order to prevent land speculation from happening.

Minister for Gozo and Planning Clint Camilleri meanwhile said that while no public consultation was held, the government will be assessing feedback published by civil society and citizens as parliamentary debates go on.

Minister Camilleri stated that the government is in no rush to enact these bills, stressing that “if we see that we need more time for discussion, we will keep discussing it.”