Minister says no permission needed to chop Mellieħa carob tree, eNGO says otherwise

Minister for the Environment Jose Herrera said in Parliament that permission to intervene and prune a carob tree in Triq ilQortin, Mellieħa, was not necessary – a statement subsequently disputed by eNGOs, according to whom permission is always required.

Replying to a PQ tabled by Opposition MP Robert Cutajar, who asked the minister whether any permits had been approved to prune the tree on 28 June, and which authorities had approved these permits, Minister Herrera said:

“The tree in question is in an area of development and, therefore, does not require permission to be removed to or to intervene, according to the Protection of Trees and Woodland Regulations (2011). Environmental permits for intervention on this type of tree are required by the mentioned law when the tree is in an Urban Conservation Area or an Outside Development Zone.”

A spokesperson for Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar, however, told this newsroom that permission is always required when cutting such trees. “They should request permission from the respective authorities,” the spokesperson said.

When contacted by this newspaper a few days ago, the mayor of Mellieħa, John Buttigieg, had said that there was permission to cut the tree.

Earlier this week, this newspaper reported that PN MP Robert Cutajar had expressed his anger over the the pruning of a carob tree in Triq il-Qortin. “When I was mayor, in order to uproot an unprotected tree, I had to get permission from many entities; then inspectors had to be present when it was uprooted. Let alone a protected carob tree!” Cutajar said, adding that the tree “must be hundreds of years old.”

Cutajar had taken to Facebook to upload pictures which show tree branches lying on the ground, which he claimed were cut with a chainsaw in what he termed an “obscene massacre.” Speaking to The Malta Independent, Cutajar said: “I went and saw someone cutting it with a chaser, throwing the branches in the middle of the road. To prune a protected tree you definitely need to get agricultural experts to do it, and not a contractor with a chaser. It was a shocking scene!” he added.

Questions have been sent to the Environmental and Resources Authority.