(Adds Parliamentary Secretariat's, Nadur council's replies)

EU funds are being used to uproot trees in Gozo, supposedly to discover archaeological remains, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar said.

The organisation said this morning that while Qala’s controversial plan was resisted by residents and the local church, the Victoria council was granted a permit to uproot all trees that drew tourists to it-Tokk, provided shade and reduced pollution.

Mature trees were being replaced by potted shrubs but these could not grow and function fully in pots. It said that although the reason that EU funds were being used to uproot trees was supposedly to discover archaeological remains beneath the square, the council intended to re-seal the square following excavations.

It asked if the trees were actually being removed to make way for more cafes as happened elsewhere in Gozo.

FAA also said that Nadur council had just started uprooting all the trees that embellished its squares in a so-called ‘embellishment plan’, claiming they were damaging house drains. FAA reiterated that root damage could be prevented by root-guards in use all over Europe.

Although it was being claimed that the Nadur trees were being immediately replanted, to survive replanting, trees had to be specially prepared for months, and not roughly pulled out of the ground with a crane as the Nadur trees were.

Moreover, the uprooted trees were presently languishing in the sun in a builders’ yard, FAA said.

It said that while the central government was improving its treatment of trees, Gozitan councils were betraying their residents’ interests and health with their destruction and it was shameful that Mepa granted permits for such damaging projects which undermined the quality of life it was supposed to protect.

The organisation said both these EU projects contravened basic EU requirements on sustainability and called for their immediate suspension of the Nadur project to ensure that the remaining trees were saved.

PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIAT'S REPLY

In a reply, the Parliamentary Secretariat for European Funds said the removal of trees in Victoria was not being funded by European funds allocated for the project.

Moreover, the funds were subject to a project that required Mepa approval and this approval had not been granted. It seemed the council was appealing the decision.

The secretariat said it was committed that projects carried out by European funds would not have a negative impact on the environment. The government was committed to ensure that the best use was made of these funds especially during this period when most of the projects in the 2007-2013 programme were being concluded.

NADUR COUNCIL'S REPLY

In another statement, the Nadur council said the regeneration work being carried out in St Peter and St Paul Square was in line Mepa permits.

Part of the project involved the uprooting of trees which were being replanted in other areas in Nadur including that known as Ta' Bordin. These trees were being supplemented with others.

The trees, the council said, were uprooted yesterday and were being replanted today.

The council said the trees had to be uprooted because of the damage they were causing residences so much so that certain people had to change their tiles and were having their drainage system continuously blocked.

Some of the trees were being replanted in the same square in contained underground planters.

The council said it was all for the planting of more trees so much so that in the past years it planted thousands of trees in Nadur and came up with schemes for farmers which led to the planting of more than 5,000 olive trees in Nadur valleys. Such schemes would continue.