A grade one scheduled building which hit the headlines recently because of fears it will be ‘buried’ by modern multi-storey buildings around it, now faces a more imminent danger.
The weekend’s storm partly uprooted a massive five-storey tree on a public road, leaving it delicately balanced on the partly demolished boundary wall of the 500-year-old Villa Barbaro in Tarxien, posing a danger not just to the property, but to the people who live there or use the street.
“This is an extremely serious emergency situation and whilst our lives literally hang in the balance, the three different entities concerned (the ELC consortium, the Civil Protection, and Tarxien Local Council) were until not long ago squabbling amongst themselves as to whose job it was to remove the danger,” the owner of the property, Marquis Cremona-Barbaro said.
He explained that the strong wind on Sunday had dislodged the tree and it was literally only being held up by one half of the garden wall, the other half having already collapsed under the weight.
He had immediately alerted the Civil Protection Department to the danger, but given the damage across the island, they did not have the resources to tackle it. He also spoke to the police and the local council.
It was only five days after the storm that the council sent a tree pruning contractor to inspect the damage. He promised to carry out the work on Friday or Saturday, Marquis Cremona-Barbaro said.
But he has since been told that the work cannot be carried out before Wednesday – despite warnings of more strong winds this weekend. The reason given was the need for wardens and a crane.
Marquis Cremona-Barbaro said the road should have been closed immediately, because of the danger to life and limb, and it was a disgrace that several days on, nothing had been done yet.
“We are terrified that in the strong winds the tree will come crashing down, flattening this historic building and very possibly killing us. We have been advised for our own safety to move to the wing at the other extreme end of the house,” he said.
The advice has been heeded.