Environmental organisation Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar is insisting that Villa Mekrech in Għaxaq and its gardens were scheduled before a permit was granted to build apartments on part of the site.

FAA is shocked by Mepa’s insistence that no trees were destroyed

FAA claimed the Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s statement that the site covered by the permit was beyond the garden of the villa was “untrue”.

The NGO issued a statement in retaliation to claims made by Mepa on Friday.

The authority lashed out at what it said were “slanderous” and “completely misleading” statements made by the environmental pressure group.

The Mepa board last week voted in favour of a proposal to build three blocks of flats, each two storeys high, on land adjacent to the villa’s formal garden. Some board members have since said they could not vote against the proposal as it had already been granted an outline permit, which was a legally binding document.

Mepa said FAA was wrong in saying Villa Mekrech and its gardens were scheduled on August 31. The area had in fact been issued with an Emergency Conservation Order to give experts the time to determine which areas merited scheduling, the authority said.

The NGO was similarly incorrect in saying aerial photos had shown how protected trees had been destroyed.

FAA argued that an Emergency Conservation Order was technically scheduling and “Mepa should be explaining why it downgraded the protection of the garden”.

“FAA is shocked by Mepa’s insistence that no trees were destroyed on this site, just as it is shocked by the failure of its enforcement officers to report the stumps of the destroyed hundred-year old protected olive trees on site,” FAA said adding that the case officer report had clearly stated that, in case of destruction of trees, “the outline permission becomes invalid”.

The NGO said Mepa should be holding the Development Control Commission board accountable for issuing the outline permit which violated every tenet of the local plan.