ESG Press Release
Draft Revised Town Planning Bill
Tuesday 7th July 2015

The ESG welcomes the publication of the draft revised Town Planning Bill for public consultation and feedback.
This has come on the heels of a recently published extensive opinion piece on planning issues by ESG’s spokesperson, Janet Howitt, calling for this and for other measures. The group believes it is critical that the community takes the opportunity of reading the bill and sending in recommendations and/or concerns. The Bill will address the need for greater and more direct consultation of affected parties from new development applications, will overhaul the enforcement procedure, which to date has been unfit for purpose, and redefine the role of the Commission in broader planning schemes, among its other aims.

A spokesperson for the group added, “The ESG is now studying the Bill to verify whether the concerns and aims contained in our own Wish List on planning are being fully addressed. Of course a lot of major developments have already been built or approved and we would have preferred to see the new bill published much earlier. Nevertheless we must make sure that, as a community, we engage more closely in overall planning matters in Gibraltar, and not only when it directly affects the individual. This bill will hopefully generate a strong public response.”

The ESG invites its members and the public to send in any concerns or suggestions and we shall be very pleased to consider these for inclusion in our own submission to Government.

The draft bill is a Command Paper and can be found at the following link:-

http://www.gibraltarlaws.gov.gi/commandpapers/C09-2015.pdf

Deadline for feedback is the 30th September 2015