Judge blocks Gzira fuel pump relocation to public garden in victory for local council

Gzira Mayor Conrad Borg Manche wins the legal battle preventing the Lands Authority from taking back part of a public garden for the relocation of a fuel station

An existing fuel station next to Manoel Island bridge was slated to relocate to part of the Council of Europe Garden in Gzira
An existing fuel station next to Manoel Island bridge was slated to relocate to part of the Council of Europe Garden in Gzira

The Appeals Court has confirmed a tribunal’s judgment that revoked the Lands Authority decision to take back part of a public garden in Gzira.

Presided by Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff, the court said prior consultation with the Gzira local council should have been the bare minimum one would have expected from the Lands Authority.

The authority wanted to take away 930sq.m of land from the Council of Europe Garden on the Gzira promenade to give it to the owner of a petrol station. The petrol station is scheduled to be relocated from its current position near the Manoel Island bridge.

But Mintoff confirmed the Administrative Review Tribunal’s ruling from last year. The tribunal had annulled the Lands Authority decision to take back part of the public garden that had been leased to the Gżira council.

The Gżira council led by its mayor Conrad Borg Manche had challenged the Lands Authority decision arguing that the garden in question was the only green lung in an increasingly commercialised locality. The council has administered garden for 22 years.

Mintoff decreed that since the Lands Authority decision impacted on the general public including Gzira residents who frequented the garden it should have abided by “a higher level of transparency, reasonableness and respect for natural justice.”

Prior consultation with the local council should have been the bare minimum one would have expected from a public authority when it took a decision impacting on the residents and the public, the Appeals Court said.

Moreover, the judge added that the decisions of administrative authorities “have to be transparent, correct and reasonable.”

The court shot down the various objections made by the Lands Authority which claimed that the tribunal had no jurisdiction on a contractual agreement between it and the local council and that it had no obligation to give reasons for its decisions.

But Mintoff concluded that “the least one expects from any public authority is to respect the principle of natural justice” and that the authority should abide to a “higher standard” of “transparency and correctness”.

The judge observed that had the tribunal not stopped the Lands Authority from taking back a part of the garden, the land in question would have been simply released “without any reaction, simply on the basis of a written request of a public authority whose function should be that of administrating public land in the interest of the common good.”

Mintoff said the Lands Authority’s decision was “not an act of good administration, particularly when one considers that the local council is a representative organ which has to answer back to the residents it represents for any decision it objects to or approves.”

Fuel station stokes controversy

Borg Manché had fallen out with Labour over the Lands Authority’s plans. The Gżira mayor, whose campaign against the relocation of the petrol station is backed by an 8,000-strong petition, had lambasted Labour Party president Ramona Attard, a lawyer by profession, for representing the authority in the appeals process.

A planning permit for the relocation of the petrol station presently operating near the Manoel island bridge was approved by the Planning Authority four years ago.

Subsequently the Lands Authority proceeded to terminate part of the lease which handed the garden to the local council to release the 930sq.m of land for the development of the petrol station.

The court’s decision does not impact the planning permit but without the land in question being granted to the owners, the relocation cannot happen as yet.

In a recent interview with MaltaToday Prime Minister Robert Abela revealed that he has sent a message to the authorities to explore an alternative solution but remained non-committal on whether the station will be relocated elsewhere. He said preliminary talks had started.

“I understand the priorities and concerns of Conrad Borg Manché, who is sending a strong message and believes in his cause and I admire him for that, but there are also the rights of the fuel station owners, and I believe we can sit down around the table and with good will and common sense bring together the conflicting interests,” Abela said.