Dingli residents and activists have filed paperwork seeking to save ancient trees which Infrastructure Malta intends to cut down to make way for a new road. 

Around 100 people have endorsed a bid to obtain an urgent Tree Protection Order for the trees, which activists say are hundreds of years old. 

In a statement on Friday, activist group Moviment Graffitti said that a nature permit to chop down these trees was issued some months ago to make way for “a highly controversial and dubious road” right through outside development zone arable land.

The new road is meant to link Daħla tas-Sienja with Sqaq il-MUSEUM. Minister Ian Borg has defended the project.

However, direct action by residents, farmers and activists helped put a temporary stop to the works. The activists had disrupted the felling of trees after workers turned out to clear the way. They also appealed a decision allowing for the trees to be uprooted.

Now, 100 people have signed their support for a Tree Protection Order, which would designate the zone as a Tree Preservation Area, since the trees and the area where they are found meet a number of the criteria necessary for protection.

Among the criteria listed by activists: 

• The trees are well over 300 years old and were planted during the times of the Knights of St John;

• They lie adjacent to ODZ arable fields and provide essential nutrients to the soil where crops are grown;

• Their extensive root system contributes to reducing soil erosion which is essential for the nearby fields;

• There are numerous boreholes dug hundreds of years ago, which are entwined with the tree roots under the soil and which are still used to water fields. These would be in danger of irreparable damage if the trees were to be destroyed;

• They provide much-needed wind cover for nearby fields;

• The biodiversity that has evolved can never be replaced by planting young trees as compensation;

• The trees are next to a Scheduled Grade 1 church from the 1500s making them culturally and historically significant;

• They represent one of the very few remaining wooded areas within Dingli, a rural village which is becoming increasingly urbanised. They also provide shade, shelter, and more to all the people who work and live in the area.

Graffitti said numerous entities have come out against the destruction of the trees, including farmers residents, the Catholic Cultural Heritage Commission, the church’s Environment Commission and several NGOs that stated that "the project goes against the aims of the rural policy since it threatens farmers’ livelihood”.