In 2007, the EUCC and Pratdip Town Council once again attempted to agree on the conditions required to complete Planas del Rey and enable its formal acceptance by the municipality.
A new agreement was negotiated and submitted to the property owners. It provided for the Town Council to organise the work, while the owners would remain entirely responsible for financing it.
The agreement was ultimately rejected, mainly because it placed no limit on potential cost overruns. Nevertheless, the technical studies continued and, by the end of the year, the project was estimated at around €7 million, excluding subsidies.
This new attempt directly followed the steps described in the article about the project approved in 2005 and revised in 2006, although work had still not begun.
February 2007 – A more detailed agreement is prepared
On 23 February 2007, the Governing Board decided to entrust the matter to a lawyer specialising in urban planning.
His task was to prepare a new agreement that would better protect the interests of the property owners and to negotiate it with Pratdip Town Council.
At the same time, owners were invited to examine the project plans and identify any necessary changes, particularly regarding the connections to their plots.
The aim was to finalise the project and submit the agreement to a vote at the general meeting in August.
The EUCC becomes involved in the revision of the POUM
On 13 February 2007, the Town Council submitted its new Municipal Urban Development Plan, known as the POUM, for public consultation.
With the assistance of its lawyer, the EUCC submitted around twenty pages of observations challenging provisions it considered unfavourable to the property owners of Planas.
A meeting was held on 16 April 2007 between the Town Council, its representatives, the Governing Board and the EUCC’s lawyer. In the information subsequently provided to the owners, the EUCC stated that it had received a favourable response concerning the observations submitted.
The agreement also stipulated that the POUM would have to remain compatible with the Planas renovation project.
What the new agreement provided for
The negotiated agreement was intended to enable the transition from the compensation system to the cooperation system. The Town Council would then become responsible for the administrative procedure, approval of the project and organisation of the public tender.
However, the property owners would have to finance:
- all the urban development work;
- the preparation of the technical project;
- the supervision of the work;
- the health and safety study.
Throughout the construction period, the EUCC would continue to maintain the existing services. The owners would therefore still have to pay their usual charges.
The agreement also provided for the cost of the work to be paid in stages:
- the technical project and 35 % of the cost of the work when the contract was awarded;
- 15 % twelve months after the official start of the work;
- a further 15 % six months later;
- the remaining balance upon final acceptance of the development.
The Town Council would only accept the infrastructure once all the work had been completed and every identified defect had been corrected. It would then take over the communal areas and services, allowing the process of dissolving the EUCC to begin.
The risk of cost overruns concerns the owners
The agreement contained several safeguards for monitoring the work. In particular, it provided for a public tendering procedure and the creation of a monitoring committee made up of representatives of the Town Council and the EUCC.
The Town Council also agreed that the unit prices included in the project would not be changed during the work.
However, this guarantee did not limit the total cost. Calculation errors, additional work or larger quantities than originally estimated could still lead to a substantial increase in the final bill.
The lawyer involved in the negotiations acknowledged this risk and referred to another urban development project whose cost had doubled compared with its initial budget.
The Town Council refused to set a maximum limit on possible cost overruns. It also stated that it would apply for all available subsidies, without being able to guarantee their amount.
12 August 2007 – The owners reject the agreement
At the general meeting held on 12 August 2007, the Governing Board recommended voting against the agreement.
Its opposition was not directed at the principle of renovating Planas or its future acceptance by the municipality. Its main concern was the absence of any limit on the amount the property owners might ultimately have to pay.
The result of the vote was as follows:
- owners representing 20.269 % of the ownership shares rejected the agreement;
- those representing 18.579 % approved it;
- 1.403 % of the votes were declared invalid;
- 1.051 % abstained.
The agreement was therefore rejected. Christian Peuman was subsequently re-elected as President of the Governing Board with the green list.
A project estimated at around €7 million
The rejection of the agreement did not bring the technical studies to an end. The Governing Board continued working with ACYCSA to finalise the project.
By the end of October 2007, the project was described as almost complete. Its estimated cost was then announced at around €7 million, excluding subsidies.
The Governing Board stated that this amount should not be exceeded and that this condition would have to be included in the calls for quotations. It also sought qualified people to examine the project and, at a later stage, monitor the execution of the work.
However, this estimate remained separate from the agreement rejected in August. The technical project was progressing, but no new agreement had yet been reached with the Town Council to allow it to be carried out.
Another deadlock despite the project’s progress
By the end of 2007, Planas therefore had a more developed project and an estimated cost of close to €7 million.
However, the essential issues remained unresolved: no legally guaranteed ceiling protected the owners from possible cost overruns, the subsidies remained uncertain and the agreement required to begin the work had not been approved.
The project continued to progress from a technical standpoint but was unable to enter its implementation phase.
La Tribune de Planas
Reference documents
- Planas Info for the first quarter of 2007, in Spanish;
- Minutes of the Governing Board meeting of 23 February 2007, in Spanish;
- Draft urban planning agreement presented in August 2007, in Spanish;
- Minutes of the general meeting of 12 August 2007, in Spanish;
- Minutes of the Governing Board meeting of 31 October 2007, in Spanish.
