The Maltese national committee of ICOMOS has expressed grave concern at the Planning Authority's decision to approve a development in Xagħra within a UNESCO buffer zone intended to protect the Ġgantija Temples. 

ICOMOS, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, is the body that recommends buffer zones to protect heritage monuments. 

With seven votes against one, the PA on Thursday approved a 22-apartment block of flats and 20 basement garages near the historic temple site, despite UNESCO mandating that a heritage impact assessment is required for any developments within buffer zones. 

"There are grounds for concern that the decision may have been taken on the basis of incorrect statements made by the applicant’s representatives during the hearing, regarding the extent of the UNESCO World Heritage Site buffer zone," ICOMOS Malta said. 

"The extent of the buffer zone of the UNESCO World Heritage Site submitted by the Maltese government corresponded to the Area of Archaeological Importance created in 1998 around Ġgantija," it added.

That area was formally noted by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2006, which also approved an enlarged boundary zone in 2015.

But during the hearing, the applicant’s representatives reportedly referred to a smaller, circular buffer zone around Ġgantija to argue that the site of the proposed works was outside the zone.

This circular area, ICOMOS said, represented the minimum requirement for any Grade A archaeological site in Malta - not the buffer zone. 

The ICOMOS statement confirms the conclusions of a Times of Malta fact check, which concluded that the applicant's claim that the proposed development was just outside the buffer zone was false. 

ICOMOS said that if erroneous or misleading statements about the buffer zone were made during the PA hearing, the validity of the decision to approve the application was in question.

Concerns about good governance

It said that the decision to grant the permit without presenting and evaluating a Heritage Impact Assessment also raised grave concerns about good governance.

ICOMOS said the decision is also in direct defiance of the state institutions entrusted with the stewardship of Malta’s cultural heritage, particularly the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and Malta’s National World Heritage Technical Committee, which agreed on the need for the Heritage Impact Assessment.

ICOMOS appealed to the chairman of the National World Heritage Technical Committee to make public all its workings to date regarding this case.

It also appealed to the Prime Minister and to the Heritage Minister to take a public stand on the matter and redress it before more damage to Malta’s reputation is made and before this is allowed to translate into material and economic damage.