Can someone from the Ministry for Gozo please explain why the trees in Independence Square, known as It-Tokk, have been vandalised, seemingly under the noses of the Ministry?

All these trees are protected by Trees and Woodlands Protection Regulations (LN12 of 2001), which requires pruning only to take place under a permit by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority or the Department of Agriculture. Can Minister for Gozo Giovanna Debono please inform the public if such a permit was obtained in this case? If the permit was obtained, who made the application; for example, was it the Gozo Ministry itself?

These trees are an important roosting site for wintering birds. Locals and tourists alike enjoy them. Every year I visit Gozo, I always make my way to the square at around 5.30pm to listen to the birds settling down for the night.

So is this just another example of Maltese tree pruning carried out by people with chainsaws who have no idea what they are doing, or is it a prelude to the trees being removed completely? This is what the Gozo Ministry tried to do back in 2010 and at the time I wrote about it in The Times.

Unless I’m mistaken, these old ficus trees are protected due to their age so why has the Gozo Ministry allowed this to happen? Trees seem to be a dirty word in Gozo. Remember all the trees removed on the road to San Lawrenz, Xaghra and Ta’ Pinu?

There again we have to remember that the weather is extremely cold in Gozo at the moment so perhaps someone from the Ministry needed some logs for their wood burner!

James A. Tyrrell,

N. IRELAND