Planning extensions will come with conditions - Muscat

A Labour proposal to extend planning permits beyond their five year expiry date will come with conditions attached, according to Joseph Muscat. The Labour leader said the extension will not be open-ended but did not elaborate when asked by timesofmalta.com about the proposal he made on Monday. Dr Muscat insisted the Labour Party will shortly announce a package of proposals aimed at reforming the planning process and more details will be given then about the extension. "There will be a process to obtain the extension and this will also be linked to the local plans. Extensions will not be ad eternum," he said. Dr Muscat reiterated there were situations where developers, who had taken years to obtain a permit had difficulty to develop the site within the stipulated time frame. "The options they have are either to lose the permit after five years and re-apply at a later stage with all the costs involved or else start to commit the site within the five years at unfavorable economic conditions," he explained, adding Labour was committed to address this situation. Dr Muscat visited the offices of software company Ascent in Luqa where he heard company bosses say they were not finding...