Although Minister for the Environment Jose Herrera has said that permission to intervene and cut a carob tree in Triq il-Qortin, Mellieha, is not needed, eNGOs have stated that permission is always needed when intervening with protected trees.

 “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 interventions on this type of tree is required by the mentioned law when the tree is in an Urban Conservation Area or an Outside Development Zone,” Herrera said.

He was replying to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Robert Cutajar. Cutajar asked Herrera whether there were any permits approved by authorities to cut an old Carob Tree in Triq il-Qortin Mellieha on the 28 June at 4.30, and asked, if this was the case, which authorities approved these permits.

However, when contacted, a spokesperson from Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar told The Malta Independent that permission is always required when cutting such trees. “They should request permission from the respective authorities,” FAA said.

When contacted by this newspaper a few days ago, Mellieha Local Council Mayor John Buttigieg also said that there was permission to trim the tree.

Earlier this week, this newspaper reported that Mellieha Nationalist Party MP Robert Cutajar had expressed his anger about the treatment during 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 branches of the tree lying on the ground, which he claimed were cut with a chainsaw, in, what he termed as an ‘obscene massacre’.

Speaking to The Malta Independent, Cutajar had 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.