The Gżira local council is asking the courts to quash a decision by the Lands Authority to grant part of a public garden to a petrol station.

It argues that its rights as a rent holder to administer the site for public enjoyment have been breached.

The council has been fighting to prevent the relocation of a fuel station into Ġnien il-Kunsill tal-Ewropa for two years.

Repeated attempts to get the permits for the development rejected through the Planning Authority have failed.

We were not given a say on the future of the land it was paying rent on and neither had it been given the right of first refusal for further use of it- Gżira local council

The existing fuel station is around 100 metres up the road, close to the bridge to Manoel Island, and is expected to take up some 930 square metres of space from the garden.

In a motion filed with the Administrative Review Tribunal, the council said it had managed the garden since 2000 and had plans to beautify the area for residents’ enjoyment.

It was the only open green space in the locality, the council said.

Last month, Lands notified the council that the 900-square-metre zone would no longer form part of its allocation of the garden.

The council said it was not given a say on the future of the land it was paying rent on and neither had it been given the right of first refusal for further use of it.

Lands had also failed to give a reason for terminating this portion of land from its lease agreement, in breach of the principles of good governance.

The council accused the authority of shirking its responsibility to administer public property in the best interest of the public, saying that it had made the decision to grant the land on an “irrelevant and inappropriate” basis.

The council asked the tribunal to annul the decision in an application signed by lawyer Claire Bonello.