The gardens of Villa Mekrech, in Għaxaq, will remain protected in their entirety after the planning authority yesterday rejected an application to deschedule part of it.

In 2012, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority was asked to remove a protection order on the villa and the gardens, which used to be the kitchen and vegetable patch, referred to as informal gardens, so that development could take place.

Last December, it said it would seek advice to see whether it could protect part of the 19th century villa on which a building permit was issued.

The gardens are made up of two parts, referred to as the formal section, which is the garden proper, and the informal section.

In October 2012, Mepa approved a full development permit to build three blocks of flats in part of the informal gardens. This decision led to severe criticism.

Then, in July 2013, the planning board decided the entire property of Villa Mekrech’s gardens merited Grade 2 scheduling.

In December, the board confirmed the decision that the formal gardens and the part of the informal gardens not covered by a development permit would retain Grade 2 protected status.

At Villa Mekrech there is a marriage of Baroque formality with the quintessentially English irregularity

It said it would seek legal advice before deciding on the request to remove protection on that part of the informal garden covered by the permit.

The board yesterday confirmed that the informal gardens should remain scheduled and protected as a Grade 2 site, even though in October 2012 the then Mepa board had granted a full development permit for the construction of six residential units.

Before the decision was taken, residents expressed concern that some unique features in the gardens would be destroyed by the development.

Villa Mekrech is located within the urban conservation area of Għaxaq, on Triq Santa Marija.

Its baroque garden is laid out according to the traditional bipartite division of formal and informal arrangements.

At the congruence of the formal and informal gardens there is an unusual, rustic belvedere formed in the shape of an artificial hillock accessible through a curved flight of steps that leads to a small viewing platform on top.

The environment group Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar welcomed yesterday’s decision.

It had commissioned a report by architect Edward Said, who confirmed that “at Villa Mekrech there is a marriage of Baroque formality with the quintessentially English irregularity reminiscent of Brown and Repton.

“[If the scheduling is overturned], then one of Malta’s finest, if not the finest example of an English landscape garden will be lost”.

The group said the board’s stand was laudable, given the possibility that the developer could sue Mepa, although FAA had always maintained that the permit was not valid because the applicant had submitted incorrect information.