Landowners whose plot was kept in planning limbo vindicated by court
Landmark judgement finds breach of rights by state's failure to act on its designation of the land
Landowners whose plot of land was designated as public open space for decades but never put to use by the State had their rights breached, a Constitutional Court has ruled.
The 302-square-metre plot in Żabbar had been effectively frozen by planning policies since at least 1966, preventing its owners from making any meaningful use of the land while the authorities failed to take the necessary steps to acquire it.
The outcome of the case filed by Lawrence Borg and Josephine Mizzi against the Lands Authority and other state entities is expected to have wider implications for planning policy and property rights in Malta.
The land, located within a built-up area and officially known as Misraħ San Nikola, has long been earmarked as a public open space under successive planning schemes, including the South Malta Local Plan.
Although local authorities had over the years proposed turning the site into a public garden, play area, fountain, bus shelter or kiosk, none of those projects ever materialised and the site remains undeveloped.
The court noted that while the state had reserved the land for public use, it never initiated formal expropriation proceedings to acquire it.
As a result, ownership remained in private hands, but the owners were effectively prevented from using the land for any private purpose because planning policies restricted its use exclusively to a public open space.
The Constitutional Court concluded that the authorities had left the owners in a prolonged state of uncertainty, entirely dependent on whether the state would eventually decide to act.
It described the situation as imposing a “disproportionate and excessive burden” on the owners, amounting in practice to a form of expropriation without compensation.
The court found violations of both Article 37 of the Constitution, which protects against deprivation of property without compensation, and Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which safeguards the peaceful enjoyment of possessions.
It ordered the state to begin formal expropriation proceedings and imposed daily penalties should the authorities fail to comply. The applicants were also awarded €5,000 in moral damages.
Lawyer Mario de Marco represented Borg and Mizzi.