A Court of Appeal has exhaustively confirmed that private land in St Paul's Bay was abusively expropriated by the state, simply to enable private developers to change a dead-end street into a double-fronted road for unobstructed sea views.

The two judgements were both delivered by the Court of Appeal on 13 July 2026, representing the final resolution of a long-standing dispute form 2006, regarding land owned by the Attard Montalto family.

The plaintiffs were represented by lawyers Mark Attard Montalto and Douglas Aquilina.

In the case, the plaintiffs challenged the government's expropriation of 440sq.m of their land, which lay at a dead-end road, Triq it-Tonn, in which developers SIAR and Rite-Mix (Gatt Brothers) were constructing an eight-storey apartment block.

By altering the existing road layout to create the turning loop, the roadworks were to be carried out on land owned by the plaintiffs, using taxpayers' money, simply to grant SIAR the advantage of a new road alignment for their eight-storey block.

Despite the plaintiffs' objections, the Planning Authority approved a change in planning guidelines in 2006 that was supported by Transport Malta.

Now the Court of Appeal has confirmed the first courts' findings that the change in road alignment had allowed the developers to prop up false declarations that Triq it-Tonn would be double-fronted.

The developers were accused of having exerted pressure on TM and the local council to solve the issues created by their own encroachment, by forcing the disputed land to be turned into a public road.

The court agreed that this had been an abuse of power, designed to benefit private interests for a better road frontage and unobstructed sea views, at the plaintiffs' expense.

Transport Malta unsuccessfully claimed that the planning control application for Triq it-Tonn was a landscaping project, informed by the local council's request for a turning loop that could allow easier access for large refuse trucks.

But a refuse collector, Joseph Vella, testified that refuse trucks never struggled in the area because they used small vehicles, or because collectors did the work on foot. A representative from the St Paul's Bay local council also testified that there were no records of the council requesting such a turning circle at that specific location.

The court concluded that the alignment was changed specifically to accommodate the developer's building line, and in both cases rejected the arguments of the authorities.