Aleppo saved in 2009 now gets MEPA death sentence

A mature Aleppo pine tree has been given a death sentence after it was spared this fate back in 2009, when a permit for the construction of maisonettes in Xaghra, Gozo, specifically ruled out its uprooting.

The permit condition for the Triq Gnien Xibla construction was removed in spite of the contrary advice of MEPA’s own Environmental Protection Directorate.

The Planning Directorate argued in favour of removing the condition, because the retention of the tree implied that the original permit could not be carried out since the tree is located within the area of the approved residential unit.

Any revision to plans to retain the tree in question would have resulted in “substandard units”, the case officer noted.

Curiously, the tree is located in an area identified in plans for a kitchen and dining area. And since these plans were also approved by MEPA in 2009, the architect insisted that the plans had to prevail over the permit condition.

The development is located on top of the cliff-edge in the vicinity of a WWII shelter which serves as habitat for bats. 

Aleppo pine trees are not protected by the Trees and Woodland Protection Regulations of 2011 but the EPD still expressed its concerns on the removal of the tree, insisting that the condition issued in the original permit against uprooting the tree should be retained. It also noted that “such a mature Aleppo pine is not transplantable.”

The developer has now been ordered to plant 20 trees in a place approved by MEPA, instead of the mature Aleppo tree as specified by the authority’s guidelines on the uprooting of trees.

According to MEPA guidelines, trees should not be removed in the absence of a valid justification, and existing trees should be incorporated in approved developments.

Flimkien Ghall-Ambjent Ahjar had objected to the removal of the Aleppo pine, which is native to the Mediterranean region, but was completely eradicated from the wild in Malta at the beginning of the last century. At the time, however, there were a few Pine trees of native stock growing at San Anton Gardens and the Maltese pine population was saved since the seeds from these trees were used in afforestation schemes. Today the Aleppo pine is indeed re-generating in certain areas.