Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar has condemned the "damaging and unprofessional manner” in which trees at St James Ditch were uprooted.

A number of trees, some of them 50 years old, were uprooted in St James Ditch yesterday afternoon to make space for more parking facilities in Valletta.

In a statement this afternoon, FAA said that while it understood that some trees had to be moved to allow for the bus terminus turning-circle, the amateurish way in which the trees were uprooted would significantly diminish their chances of survival once replanted.

“FAA has not left a stone unturned to try and help the government, especially the Ministry for Landscaping responsible for ELC, which was contracted to remove the trees.

“FAA has a number of times brought over an arborist from UK, Ian Lanlsey, to advise and help with professional tree management, so that the least possible damage is inflicted on Malta’s trees, and especially to save trees where infrastructural projects are involved.

“However, FAA regrets that despite the recent best-practice training at the Castille project, the laissez-faire attitude towards the natural environment and trees seems to prevail.”

It said that the concerns about the masking of the bastions could easily have been addressed by professional pruning of the trees to lower their crowns.

FAA said it was  deplorable that planning authroity, which was responsible for the protection of trees, had originally approved the destruction of all the 50-year old trees at St James’ Ditch, when to its credit, Transport Malta was incorporating 16 out of the 28 trees into its new plans.

FAA said it seemed that various authorities were disappointed with the way the trees were handled.