As land development goes ahead at breakneck speed, with even choice plots in outside development zones being taken up for the building of petrol stations, the institutional development infrastructure creaks under the weight of an ever-rising number of new applications for yet more development.

Against this background of frenetic development, the country’s cultural heritage is struggling to keep its head above water, fighting against all odds to, at least, keep the most important parts of the island’s identity intact. At a time when the developer is king, this would seem to be a losing battle as the financial pull of the ever-expanding urban sprawl overwhelms and, at times, even suffocates conservation efforts.

The protection of the country’s cultural patrimony is in the hands of the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage. But the Superintendence, which has lately been the subject of strong criticism, appears to be greatly handicapped in its work by a shortage of staff.

Culture Minister Owen Bonnici said in Parliament last June he wanted to increase the personnel and resources of the Superintendence, arguing that, when he took over responsibility for the sector in 2014, it had only about seven people. That is exactly the number the Superintendence has on its payroll today.

How can the Superintendence deal with the huge number of applications it is receiving when, for the 40 people it ought to have to be able to work effectively, it only has four to handle development issues and just three to carry out monitoring work?

A recruitment process is now under way for the Superintendence to take on four to five new employees but this would be nowhere near the number required. Considering how the public service is today bloated with the number of people employed in positions of trust, including a new cadre of hand-picked customer care service workers populating the ministries, departments and agencies, the situation obtaining at the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage is pathetic.

In a situation where the government is indifferent to the environment and where building is considered an end in itself, it is no wonder that frustration over the rampant disregard to the protection of the environment is building up among environment organisations. Contrary to what the Culture Minister said in Parliament, the demerger of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority has evidently weakened, rather than strengthened, the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage.

According to the Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers, the massive rise in the Superintendence’s caseload was largely due to new laws introduced following the demerger. These, it said, required the Superintendence to assess each and every development application, regardless of its impact on cultural heritage. Previously, it was only required to consider applications that posed a clear and direct threat to heritage.

The matter ought to be seen to without delay for, otherwise, the Superintendence could easily become too overwhelmed by applications to carry out  meaningful assessments of applications that would truly require thorough scrutiny.

Concurrently with this, the Environment and Resources Authority must be given a greater say in planning to block approval of applications for buildings that would destroy, rather than enhance, the environment, such as the building of petrol stations in outside development zones.

This is a Times of Malta print editorial