Malta has 68 local councils — 54 in Malta and 14 in Gozo — established by the Local Government Act (Cap. 363, 1993). Local councils are democratically elected and operate under a unified central framework, with a block grant from central government and limited own-source revenue. Their cultural role has historically been confined to supporting festi, community celebrations, minor heritage maintenance and partnerships with band clubs and cultural NGOs.
The National Cultural Policy (2021) calls for greater devolution of cultural responsibility to local councils, including local-cultural-planning capacity, custodianship of local heritage assets and grassroots cultural-development funding. In practice, this has translated into several developments: targeted funding mechanisms such as annual cultural schemes administered by the Local Government Division (now under the Ministry for Local Government and Public Works)and Arts Council Malta; expanded guardianship-deed arrangements under the Cultural Heritage Act (Cap. 445) entrusting state-owned sites to local councils or local heritage NGOs subject to oversight by the Superintendence; capacity-building initiatives delivered by Arts Council Malta and the Local Government Division; and participation in the Region of Culture programme described in 1.2.3.
Local councils continue to face structural constraints. The National Audit Office report on the Workings of Local Government 2023 noted councils’ “limited financial resources, mainly the allocation provided by Central Government,” alongside liquidity and reserve pressures; the Council of Europe Congress 2024 monitoring report on Malta flagged limited own-source revenue, dependence on earmarked grants and constraints on managing human and administrative resources. The Congress’s 2025 follow-up noted progress on training and capacity-building for local government. Until June 2026, coordination between national and local levels was facilitated by the co-location of local government and culture within the same ministry. Following the June 2026 general election, local government was transferred to the Ministry for Local Government and Public Works, and coordination now operates across two separate ministries, supported by the Local Councils’ Association.
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