Mr. Ian Lumley:

When we were exercised by the Granada Convention on architectural heritage in the late 1990s, very explicit consideration was given to incorporating its principles into the legislation for protected structures. There is no evidence the same process is in place regarding this legislation. Despite the long-standing concern that has been raised about the focus of our system of protection, particularly in the planning system when the development and impact of a site is evaluated, it is very narrowly focused on the site and there is no proper consideration of the relationship of that one monument to the wider site, a complex or its landscape setting. Those are very explicit provisions in the Valletta Convention and that is a serious weakness in the legislation that needs to be addressed.