PL whip condemns ‘sacrilegious’ pruning of university trees

Labour whip Godfrey Farrugia condemned the manner in which around 60 mature olive trees surrounding the University running track were savagely “pruned”.

He dismissed explanations posed by contractual landscapist Manuel Ciantar that the pruning was necessary to remove excessive branch decay.

“God forbid I had to apply that logic in my profession as a doctor; the trees should have been rehabilitated but not cut into stumps.”

He quoted the law as defining pruning as “cutting off primary or secondary branches with the intention of controlling diseases or enhancing the production of flowers or fruit”.

He added that the best time to prune olive trees, to allow them to regain their full strength, is in the winter months of January and February.

“These were cut in May, meaning that they won’t have time to regain their full strength.”

He said that fines should be dished out to private entities that fell trees in such manner, and noted the irony that the trees were cut down at the university.

“The university is an academic institution that should provide an example, and this is the last thing I would have expected from it,” he said.