Planning Authority imposes new safeguard for Balzan trees

The Planning Authority has introduced an additional condition aimed at safeguarding two iconic Ficus trees in Balzan when issuing a permit for the creation of an eight-metre-wide pedestrian road.

The road passes through the Dolphin Complex, around which the new development will take place. 

The new condition stipulates that the kerb around the trees must be clearly indicated in the plans.

Moreover, access to the proposed pedestrian road will be limited to emergency vehicles and will not be available for service vehicles as initially proposed.

The issue was raised by Balzan council architect and Nationalist MP Toni Bezzina, who highlighted plans clearly showing that one of the trees is well within the ‘visibility splay’ of the new pedestrian pathway, which will only be used by emergency vehicles.  

“One of the trees is part of the splay of the new road. It is meaningless to say that the trees should be protected when this is not the case,” Bezzina said.

This prompted the intervention of Chief Executive Johann Buttigieg, who proposed the new condition.

While PA chairman Emmanuel Camilleri initially insisted that there was no risk to the trees—citing the fact that the Environment and Resources Authority had not objected to the proposed pedestrian passage—Buttigieg agreed with Bezzina and proposed an additional condition ensuring that the public pavement around the trees is clearly indicated.

Project architect Maria Schembri Grima also agreed with the proposed condition.

Balzan mayor Angelo Micallef had also raised the issue, insisting on the importance of the two trees for the locality’s identity and promising that the council would do everything in its power to protect them. He was backed by two other residents who attended the meeting.

Following the inclusion of the new condition, the PA’s Executive Council approved the creation of an eight-metre-wide public pedestrian footpath connecting Triq il-Kbira with Triq Wied Ħal Balzan, cutting across the Dolphin Complex.

Apart from creating this new passage, the proposal also includes a “slight realignment” of the building line on the southern part of the site fronting Triq il-Kbira.

According to the case officer, this “slight change” in alignment will shift the development frontage closer to the public pavement, posing “a significant risk to two large mature trees just outside the site.”  

While noting that ERA has issued its clearance for the zoning application, the case officer is now recommending a condition “to ensure that these trees are protected or suitably replaced if absolutely necessary.” The condition further states that “if either of these two trees is damaged during the implementation of any development permission, they shall be replaced by other trees as indicated by the Environment and Resources Authority.”

This condition has now been beefed up with the requirement for the developer to clearly indicate the extent of the public pavement around the trees. 

The zoning application aimed at creating the new road was proposed by CF Homes, a company partly owned by Joseph Portelli after a previous permit for the erection of a massive 88-apartment block instead of the Dolphin Complex was revoked by an appeals tribunal. 

The fate of the two Ficus trees was completely overlooked in the previous permit. In fact, when revoking the original permit in 2023, the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) noted that “it is clear that the execution of the permit would have necessitated the cutting off of a substantial part of the mature trees since these extend on the site in question.”