Caught in the act

Abstract

A report regarding a carob-pruning exercise along Hill Street in Qala was lodged last weekend with Mepa's Gozo enforcement section. When enforcement officers and police arrived on site, they met with the gruesome sight of a mature carob tree that had been cut down to size by a chainsaw. The tree's complete obliteration was only prevented by the enforcement officers' timely intervention. Could the attack have been related to any of the two pending planning applications for works close to the carob tree? There is an application for a dwelling and swimming pool and another to demolish an existing building and erect garages, dwellings and pools on a site in Hill Street and another site in Federico Barocci Street, Qala. Could the carob tree have been obstructing the view of the green area in front of either of these two projects? Carob trees are listed in Schedule II of the revised Trees and Woodlands Protection Regulations (2008) and are thus protected within the Outside Development Zone (ODZ) and Urban Conservation Areas. Regulation 12 of the legislation states: "No person shall fell or attempt to fell, cut or attempt to cut, strip off ... the bark or leaves, uproot or attempt to uproot...or in any way destroy or attempt to destroy, damage ... any tree or part thereof listed in Schedule I or Schedule II except by permission of the competent authority."