Alan Deidun’s contribution about the destruction of gardens in Balzan (The Sunday Times, February 12) and Michela Spiteri’s article published some weeks ago about the destruction of trees in roads and public spaces were yet another unheeded reminder of the way this country goes about its utterly unplanned policy of protecting trees in spite of the fact that we are the European country with the least amount of tree coverage.

All around us I see nothing but the constant destruction of trees in the name of development, of ‘upgrading of public areas’ and the construction of roads.

This country destroys hundreds of trees all the time, and then imports trees costing thousands of euros but which could never replace the mature trees we destroy.

Ms Spiteri had written about the way an ‘avenue’ in Żebbuġ was denuded of its trees. The usual excuse is that tree roots damage houses. (This seems to be the case only with ‘Maltese’ trees as tree-lined streets all over Europe do not seem to do the same damage.) If ficus trees were not considered ideal, surely the Żebbuġ council should have planted olive trees. But this is the same story everywhere.

Since local councils came into being, our urban areas have seen a tremendous amount of loss of trees in city centres. The latest example has been Mellieħa.

The usual justification is that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority gave its go-ahead! Mepa is there not only to say yes or no, but to give direction as to how our urban areas and our environment should be protected. The Mellieha mayor’s response would be that they moved the ficus trees to the village outskirts. My response would be that they should have stayed in the village core.

At least ficus trees are normally butchered (as at It-Tokk, Victoria, recently in anticipation of their removal) and replanted.

Other trees are not given the same treatment. I have seen (and have photos to prove it) trees being chopped down to make way for new roads in Gozo and in Luqa, among many others. Beautiful olive trees at the War Memorial have also been removed when all that was needed was better lighting of the monument.

Dr Deidun spoke about the destruction of mature gardens in Balzan. The Three Villages have always been renowned for their citrus trees but, literally, hundreds have been destroyed because citrus trees are not protected.

These beautiful gardens which produced the juicy Maltese oranges (and not the ones produced by newly imported citrus trees) once were part of our proud heritage. No more.

So many have been destroyed for internal development which makes no sense at all. Besides the citrus trees, we have constantly destroyed beautifully built walls that protected them, systems of irrigation with incredible detailing, wells, arches, niches, monuments and fountains. Yet no one cares.