On 26 March 2013, Administrative Court nº 1 of Tarragona issued judgment nº 130/2013 in proceedings brought by several property owners in Planes del Rei against the Urban Development Conservation Entity (EUCC) and Pratdip Town Council.
Among their requests was a question that was essential for the future of the development: the dissolution of the EUCC.
This request was rejected. The judgment was based mainly on the finding that the urban development works were not complete and had not been formally handed over to Pratdip Town Council.
In 2013, this situation was therefore considered sufficient to justify keeping the EUCC in place. Three years later, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia would adopt a different interpretation and order its dissolution.
What were the property owners asking for?
The proceedings had begun in 2010.
The property owners challenged several decisions concerning the situation in Planes del Rei. In particular, they asked for:
- the dissolution of the EUCC;
- Pratdip Town Council to take responsibility for certain public services, particularly drinking water and waste collection;
- the reimbursement of certain charges paid for those services;
- the annulment of several decisions taken in connection with the urban development management of Planes del Rei.
Not all these requests were examined in the same way. Some were declared inadmissible for procedural reasons.
The rejection of these requests in the 2013 proceedings did not call into question the earlier court decisions concerning drinking water and waste collection in Planes del Rei. Those decisions, issued in the Fenouillet case, concerned separate matters.
The judgment did, however, examine the dissolution of the EUCC and the request to require the Town Council to take responsibility for certain services.
Planes del Rei had not yet been formally handed over to the Town Council
After examining the documents in the case, the judgment identified one decisive point: the urban development works had not been formally handed over to Pratdip Town Council.
The fact that the municipality owned certain roads or plots of land was not enough to establish that it had formally taken over the development as a whole and its infrastructure.
In simple terms: owning certain pieces of land and formally taking over the development are two different things.
Works and services still remained to be completed
The planning documents in force at the time pointed in the same direction.
Pratdip’s Municipal Urban Development Plan (POUM) still provided for an urban development project in Planes del Rei to address shortcomings in the existing works and services.
The urban development project had been approved in 2009. The Town Council and the EUCC had subsequently organised a process intended to carry out the necessary works.
These elements led to the conclusion that in 2013 the urban development process in Planes del Rei was still not complete.
The five-year limit does not lead to dissolution
The property owners also relied on a provision of Catalan urban-planning law limiting, under certain conditions, the period during which responsibility for maintaining a development can remain with the property owners.
This period was set at five years.
In 2013, however, this limit was not considered applicable to the situation in Planes del Rei in a way that would require the EUCC to be dissolved.
The judgment found that the development had not yet been formally handed over to the Town Council and the works were not complete. The EUCC therefore had to continue carrying out its role.
In simple terms: the unfinished state of Planes del Rei still justified keeping the entity in place at that time, despite the many years that had passed since its creation.
The Town Council is not required to take over the requested services immediately
The request to require Pratdip Town Council, within these proceedings, to take responsibility for certain public services in Planes del Rei was also rejected.
This decision was based on the same situation: the works were not complete and the development had not yet been formally handed over to the municipality.
On this point, the 2013 judgment therefore maintained the situation that existed at the time.
The property owners appeal
The property owners challenged this interpretation and lodged an appeal.
On 28 June 2013, a court document confirmed that the appeal had been lodged and that the case was being transferred to the Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.
Three years later, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia issued its judgment of 21 July 2016.
The TSJC then adopted a different interpretation of the five-year limit and ordered the dissolution of the EUCC of Planes del Rei.
What the Tarragona court had refused in 2013 was therefore ultimately granted on appeal in 2016.
Why is the 2013 judgment important?
This decision helps explain one of the main legal disputes in the recent history of Planes del Rei.
In 2013, keeping the EUCC in place was based essentially on two findings: the works were not complete and the development had not been formally handed over to the Town Council.
The property owners challenged precisely the idea that a situation intended to be temporary could be used to maintain indefinitely a conservation entity financed by them.
In 2016, the TSJC would rule in their favour on the question of dissolution, finding that the time limit laid down by the legislation had to be applied.
La Tribune de Planas
Translated summary of the key passages of the judgment
On the formal handover of the development to the Town Council
After examining all the documentation in the case and the evidence submitted, the court concludes that the urban development works had not been formally handed over to the Town Council.
The fact that the Town Council may own certain roads as a result of property disputes is not sufficient to establish that the urban development works and land had been formally handed over to it.
On the works still to be completed
Pratdip’s POUM provides for an urban development project for Planes del Rei addressing the shortcomings in the works and services required to complete the development properly.
On the five-year limit
The court considers that the five-year limit applying to certain conservation entities cannot lead to the dissolution of the EUCC of Planes del Rei because the development had not yet been formally handed over to the Town Council and the urban development works were not complete.
On the final decision
Taking into account the applicable legislation and the situation of the development, the court considers that there are no grounds to dissolve the EUCC or to uphold the request requiring the Town Council to take responsibility for certain public services.
