The Carmelite Province has mounted a legal challenge against a long-term lease agreement signed by a former prior granting a section of the Order’s Balluta garden to his brother who in turn filed a development application for a supermarket.

Provincial Alexander Vella has confirmed that former Carmelite prior Anthony Cilia signed a private document for a long lease agreement with his brother, John Cilia, in 2011. The Carmelite order is challenging the legal validity of this agreement in court.

The Sunday Times of Malta reported last week that plans to turn the Carmelite priory garden in Balluta into a supermarket were being strongly opposed by the Archbishop. Yet the Carmelite Order is also on the front line.

“The validity of the private writing has recently been challenged in court by the Carmelite Province… on a number of grounds including the fact that the agreement was in actual fact an emphyteutical grant which at law requires the formality of a public deed,” said Fr Vella.

He said the Carmelite Province has noted concerns raised by the Archbishop and the public. “I assure you every effort is being made to regularise the position,” Fr Vella added, although he pointed out the land in question was only a small parcel of land and not the entire area belonging to the Order.

Any private agreement that resembles an emphyteusis (a contract by which land is leased to a tenant either in perpetuity or for a long term) that exceeds 17 years and allows the tenant to develop or sublet the area is subject to a public deed, according to a lawyer who spoke to this newspaper.

The long-term lease signed is for some 50 years which means the private deed should be null and void in the eyes of the law, he added. The former prior’s brother, Mr Cilia, has applied to build an underground three-storey car park, a supermarket and overlying offices on the first floor to be located in the priory’s garden.

The spacious grounds of the Carmelite priory in Balluta are among the last green spaces in the area. The site of the proposed development is within the urban conservation area of St Julian’s.

The development would abut the buildings of the Carmelite convent that is scheduled as Grade 2 and would be in the immediate vicinity of the Carmelite church, scheduled as Grade 1 – the highest degree of protection given by the planning authority.

Mr Cilia, holder of the lease, told The Sunday Times of Malta the development would include reinstating the garden. “The proposed plans maintain the current building height and will reinstate the garden and the statue of Our Lady on top. There will be no resulting loss of light to neighbouring properties; nor will there be loss of surrounding greenery and airspace,” Mr Cilia said.

The proposal is being opposed by residents concerned about traffic congestion. The proposed car entrance for the supermarket is on one of the busiest roads in Sliema.

caroline.muscat@timesofmalta.com