Last Thursday, the Minister for Education, Heritage, Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Dr. John Cortes, chaired the first meeting under his stewardship of the reconstituted Heritage Action Committee (HAC).

The committee is charged with advising the Minister on all matters of Heritage and will be instrumental in formulating plans for the good management and husbandry of Gibraltar’s national heritage.

The committee is comprised of representatives from the Ministry of Heritage, Environment and Climate Change, the Gibraltar Museum, Town Planning, the Technical Services Department and the Gibraltar Heritage Trust

The emphasis of the HAC is the word “Action” and it will assist the Ministry in delivering a comprehensive and effective plan of action to deal with all heritage matters. With this in mind, it covers areas of Town Planning, Technical Services, the Curator of the Gibraltar Museum, The Gibraltar Heritage Trust, the Government archaeologist and the Ministry for Heritage who will then have the ability to deliver within their respective areas and organisations.

A statement from Number Six concluded: “The whole of Gibraltar has a huge responsibility for the care of its unique heritage assets, from iconic structures like the Moorish Castle, to feats of engineering like the Great Siege Tunnels but it goes further than that, for interwoven in the fabric of the community are the many statues, plaques and mobile heritage such as the many cannon in different locations and these must also be cared for and protected.”