Planning Authority to plough through 35,000 applications to answer PQs

MP Toni Bezzina is trying to get information on the number of applications to build rubble walls and for agritourism – but he is going to have to be patient as the Planning Authority IT system cannot give him any answers.

Replying to two PQs this week, Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg said that 16 PQs have been made in all, which will require this information to be extracted manually.

He said this would involve ploughing through some 35,000 applications – 10,000 of them submitted this year alone – which will amount overall to screening the equivalent of 500,000 applications, not counting Development Notifications in certain cases.

The PA will start on the work immediately, he reassured Mr Bezzina, and answers would be given as they were completed.