My family has been to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority for the past 10 years, battling repeated applications to develop a large, old, protected garden at Three Churches Street in the urban conservation area of Balzan.

The garden formed part of Casa Del Gioco and is full of citrus and olive trees, pomegranates and vines, most of which are protected being over 50 years old. The garden also has a protected wartime shelter which leads to the “Gambling House”, today the house of the Balzan mayor.

The entrance to this garden is through an arched remissa in a narrow alley, which in the olden days was used for a horse and carriage to pass through.

The developer applied three times until, finally, his application was approved by Mepa’s DCC board. The application read “one dwelling and one swimming pool” with no mention of the inevitable widening of the public alley access, not to mention the fact that, strangely enough, this “single” monstrous dwelling has several garages.

Above the remissa lies our bedroom which would be perched over a traffic tunnel. This is ridiculous given that the wider public lane facing this remissa has been closed to cars by bollards.

We have spent energy and funds to protect what is supposed to be protected by Mepa, designated as a green enclave by the Central Malta local plan, as an essential green lung for the whole area.

We consulted experts and the garden was visited by the Mepa Heritage Advisory Committee, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, consultants in environment and agriculture, case officers, Mepa planning directorates, all saying “no” to the development.

We wrote to the Balzan mayor but received no acknowledgement.

We wrote to the Prime Minister, Mario De Marco, Roderick Galdes, Austin Walker, Petra Bianchi and again to the Superintendence to show how the last application was granted when there was incomplete information as well as the claim that the access alley is private when in fact it is public.

Unbelievably enough this is what my family has had to go through to try to get Mepa to safeguard a natural heritage which is at stake.

A large olive tree and citrus trees have already been destroyed by the developers in spite of several reports to the authorities.