The Labour Party President Alex Sciberras has come out against the Labour government’s proposed construction and planning reforms. He says that better regulation is needed to protect green spaces, prevent speculation and push forward the interests of the community.
He also says that a planning reform is “undoubtedly needed because of many injustices” but the Labour Party hasn’t even outlined its aims for this reform and the legal texts are quite clearly intended to favour speculators and construction developers at the expense of the environment and residents.
Alex Sciberras is the only high-profile Labour Party figure who has opposed Labour’s planning reform. No other Labour official or MP has voiced concerns about these reforms. If there is no concerted opposition within Labour on these reforms, the Prime Minister will easily have his way by providing some minimal concessions in order to appear compromising. However, the presentation of these reforms, paired with the return of Johann Buttigieg at the Planning Authority are all clear indications that the Labour government intends to create another property boom at the expense of social economics.
These reforms are not just an environmental issue: if the same kind of construction boom we went through during Joseph Muscat’s administrations is repeated once again, the housing crisis will get even worse. If the Labour Party is actually a party of social-democracy, as Alex Sciberras purports it to be, the party should first be prioritising the social consequences of its bills – something which Labour is clearly is refusing to do.
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