The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) said this evening that the trees that were uprooted from St Julian’s are not protected under environmental legislation because they are of the invasive alien type and a threat to the native plant species found in the natural environment.

In view of this, the ERA said it could not request that these same trees be transplanted in the natural environment. 

The trees in a car park which is to make way for a petrol station were destroyed earlier this week although the Planning Authority, at the end of June, had said that the trees were going to be replanted at Wied Ghomor.

Heavy machinery turned up on site on Wednesday to remove all the trees, except for a palm tree, which was uprooted the following day.

The trees being unceremoniously broken and tossed to the side by workers’ machinery, with workers on site telling this newsroom that the trees were full of wood lice.

The decision to uproot the trees and not relocate them elsewhere was taken after the ERA consulted with the Agriculture Department, which confirmed that the trees were too old to be replanted in a contained environment, such as in a garden.

Notwithstanding that the trees in question could not be replanted or relocated, the ERA explained, it was considered that the residents should not have to bear the loss of trees from the locality and requested that 13 olive trees be planted as compensation. The olive trees will be planted in Wied Ghomor.

The ERA said it is currently evaluating how trees which are not ecologically significant, but are of social value, are still afforded protection under environmental legislation in line with the principles of sustainable development. This is so as to ensure that decisions taken to respect this law strike a balance between the social, economic and environmental aspects.

The ERA is carrying out such work in collaboration with the Ministry for Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change, and it will be issuing the amended regulations for a public consultation in due course.