On 12 April 1988, Pratdip Town Council formally approved the deed of incorporation of the Planas del Rey Urban Development Conservation Entity, generally referred to as the EUCC.
The deed of incorporation had been signed several months earlier, on 28 July 1987, before the notary Inmaculada Nieto Aldea.
The statutes attached to the deed had been authenticated on 6 August 1987. They defined how the EUCC would operate, its compulsory nature for property owners and the conditions governing its dissolution.
Above all, the municipal certificate provides an important clarification: this approval was subject to a condition concerning the compulsory transfers required under the Land Act.
An EUCC formally approved by the Town Council
The certificate was issued by Gloria Sabaté Sabaté, authorised secretary of Pratdip Town Council, following the plenary session held on 12 April 1988.
The Town Council decided to approve the deed of incorporation of the EUCC of the Planes del Rei development.
The document therefore confirms that establishing the entity was not solely an initiative of the property owners: it also received formal approval from the municipal authority.
A maximum period of two years to arrange the compulsory transfers
The Town Council’s approval was subject to an explicit condition.
The certificate stipulated that the compulsory transfers required under the Land Act were to be arranged in favour of Pratdip Town Council within a maximum period of two years.
This provision is particularly important for understanding the role originally assigned to the EUCC and the relationship between the development and the Town Council.
However, the certificate does not identify the exact properties, plots or infrastructure covered by these transfers. The document alone therefore does not establish that all roads, networks or facilities were to be automatically accepted by the Town Council within that period.
The two-year period concerned the transfers, not the duration of the EUCC
The maximum two-year period mentioned in the certificate did not determine how long the EUCC would exist. It applied only to the steps required to arrange the compulsory transfers to the Town Council under planning legislation.
By contrast, the 1987 statutes provided that the EUCC was established for an indefinite period. This did not mean that it could never be dissolved, but that no automatic end date had been set.
However, the legislation used to make property owners responsible for maintaining the development imposed a different limit. This obligation could not last for more than five years. The difference between the indefinite duration established by the statutes and this legal limit is explained in the article on the compulsory nature of the EUCC.
Transfers that would not be formalised within the announced period
The documents currently available do not establish that the compulsory transfers were arranged and registered in the municipality’s name before the two-year period expired in April 1990.
The EUCC would therefore continue to maintain and manage the development well beyond that date. Over the years, its continued existence, its responsibilities, the contributions paid by property owners and the formal acceptance of the infrastructure would become recurring sources of disagreement.
The situation would eventually lead to lengthy legal proceedings and the dissolution of the EUCC ordered by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia in 2016. However, this dissolution did not mean that the Town Council automatically accepted all of Planas del Rey’s infrastructure.
An essential document for understanding what followed
The certificate dated 12 April 1988 is an important document in the administrative history of Planas del Rey.
It establishes two precise facts: Pratdip Town Council formally approved the EUCC’s deed of incorporation and made that approval conditional on the compulsory transfers required under the Land Act being arranged within a maximum period of two years.
The document must therefore be read as one stage in the planning procedure of the time. It set a deadline for arranging the compulsory transfers, but did not limit the duration of the EUCC to two years or prove that the land concerned was actually transferred to the municipality within that period.
Jim – La Tribune de Planas
Translation of the original document
PRATDIP TOWN COUNCIL
Tarragona
Mrs Gloria Sabaté Sabaté, authorised secretary of Pratdip Town Council,
HEREBY CERTIFIES:
That the Town Council, meeting in plenary session on 12 April 1988, adopted, among others, the following resolution:
“To approve the deed of incorporation of the Urban Development Conservation Entity of the Planes del Rei development, executed on 28 July 1987 before the notary Mrs Inmaculada Nieto Aldea.
On condition that, within a maximum period of two years, the compulsory transfers required under the Land Act are arranged in favour of Pratdip Town Council.”
For the record and at the request of the interested parties, I issue this certificate with the approval of the Mayor in Pratdip on 13 April 1988.
