The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage is operating with only a fraction of the personnel it requires, even though its caseload has increased five times over in recent years, as architects complain of months-long delays.

Superintendent Anthony Pace told the Times of Malta that just four people handle development issues at the heritage watchdog, with another three carrying out monitoring. An operations review back in 2006 had concluded that the SCH needed at least 40 people to function effectively.

The authority, which is tasked with assessing developments for potential threats to cultural heritage, examined 1,099 applications in 2015, a figure which increased to 5,412 in 2016.

Read: ‘Assault’ on cultural heritage

Dr Pace said a recruitment process currently under way would lead to four or five new personnel in the coming months, but added that this still would not be enough to fully address the situation.

He was reacting after the Kamra tal-Periti said the increased caseload, coupled with insufficient resources, had led to the SCH being “overloaded with applications to assess, to the extent that it is failing to keep up even with those applications that should fall within its direct remit”.

Just four people handle development issues

The SCH has been the subject of criticism in recent months over its perceived silence on certain destructive development applications, with the Partit Demokratiku calling for an investigation in July after the authority did not object to an application threatening Roman catacombs in Kerċem.

In a letter to Culture Minister Owen Bonnici, the Chamber acknowledged the minister’s commitment – in a Parliamentary speech earlier this year – to increase the SCH staff complement by 20 officers over two years. But it took issue with the minister’s assertion that the authority had been strengthened by the Mepa demerger in 2016.

Read: Superintendent for Cultural Heritage explains controversial Mosta decision

The Chamber said the massive increase in caseload was largely due to new laws introduced following the demerger, requiring the SCH to assess each and every development application, regardless of its impact on cultural heritage.

Previously, the watchdog was only required to consider applications that posed a clear and direct threat to heritage.

“The situation of this overload is now such that one of the main causes of delays in the planning process is precisely that caused by the SCH itself in assessing the applications referred to it,” the Chamber said.

“Periti have reported delays of several months in the application process, sometimes simply waiting for the Superintendence to give a date for a site inspection.”

The Chamber insisted that the SCH should be given sufficient resources to fulfil its remit and deal with the immense workload it faced on a daily basis, pointing out that rather than being strengthened, the authority had effectively been weakened by the Mepa demerger.

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