Planning Authority sues to deny public access to information

The Malta Planning Authority is challenging a ruling by the data protection appeals tribunal granting our freedom of information request for disclosure of a landowner’s name. The request concerns a planning application (PA/04672/23) for the development of three villas on land in an area outside the development zone. This is a matter of public interest, given that the development is commercial and speculative.

The planning applicant, a company involved in significant government contracts, is not the owner of the site and has obtained the written consent of the owner (or owners) to file an application for the whole site. We filed a freedom of information request for the formal letter that identifies the owners of the site. The case went all the way up to the appeals tribunal which ruled in our favour and ordered the Planning Authority to release the document without redacting the landowner’s name (or names).

Rather than acting in the public interest and releasing the information, the Planning Authority has now chosen to take the case to court, asking for the appeal tribunal’s decision to be annulled and for the court to order us to pay the costs.

We are fighting the case and will let you know the outcome.