Astrid Vella, on behalf of the NGO Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar, and 95 other residents, mostly from Rabat, have filed a judicial protest against the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH), and the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA), and against a developer, Michael Bugeja, for "destroying the mature garden of a farmhouse" at 28, Buskett Road, Rabat, where Bugeja and his architect, Perit Anthony Robinson, have submitted a planning application to develop a block of apartments.

In the protest, the residents held the three parties concerned responsible for the irreversible damage caused to the garden to the detriment of the Rabat neighbourhood's natural environment, and called on them to immediately desist from permitting or taking any further unpermitted actions that may damage or destroy the remaining trees at the site.

The application, PA/02441/25, proposes to demolish an over-130-year-old farmhouse and excavate the entire site, including the garden, to build two basement levels for 83 garages, 30 apartments, 10 penthouses, 9 maisonettes, and a retail outlet (for details view https://www.pa.org.mt/en/pacasedetails?CaseType=PA/02441/25). The application is still pending the Planning Authority's consideration, the residents said. Close to 1,000 individual objections were filed against the application earlier this year. Lawyer Claire Bonello and Perit Tara Cassar also filed a class objection on behalf of 296 of the objectors.

Throughout summer, the SCH has been conducting an archaeological investigation of the site to assist it to formulate its representations to the Planning Authority board regarding the application, the residents said. The site lies within an Area of Archaeological Importance (AAI). Although the SCH has to date not announced the result of its investigation, photos and video evidence of the site show that several tombs and other archaeological features have been discovered. The site is located next to the junction between Buskett Road and Carlo Fiamingo Street where, in 1968, a necropolis comprising 18 tombs had been discovered.

(Photo - top - shows the garden cleared on trees and soil and - above - as it was last May)

During the last week of October 2025, the developer, under the SCH's supervision, and supposedly with a permit from ERA, removed most of the soil of the garden at the site, killing a total of 36 trees, 29 of which are protected under Table 2 of the Trees and Woodlands Protection Regulations (https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/549.123/eng/pdf ). For the record, the protect species of trees felled comprised 15 Olive trees, 11 Pomegranate trees, a Bay Laurel tree, an Almond tree, and an Oleander tree. The other trees killed comprised two Great Reed trees, an Orange tree, a Grape vine, a Fig tree, a Eucalyptus tree, and a Prickly Pear, the residents said

Table 2 of the said regulations states, inter alia, that the species falling under this category "are protected within protected areas, in ODZ, in green areas, and in natural or rural/green enclaves in an urban area (development zone), or in urban public open spaces".

Among the 96 residents are 21 members of the Rabat community of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition, whose convent is located next to the site.