They denounce the abandonment of Planes del Rei
A group of residents of the Planes del Rei urbanisation, in Pratdip, contacted the *Diari* to denounce the state of neglect in which the area finds itself.
A situation that has worsened in recent years, for which they hold the town hall responsible. Òscar Serrano, one of the residents of Planes del Rei, explains that the town council has never invested in basic services or road maintenance. This has led, among other things, to a lack of public lighting and deteriorating streets.
Payments with no return and non-existent services
“We pay between €700 and €800 per year to the community, plus €800 in property tax (IBI), and we had to hire three people to clean the streets,” says Serrano, who points out that the urbanisation has all the urban infrastructure required to be considered urban land. “We even have a wastewater treatment plant that Pratdip itself doesn’t have,” he adds.
They demand integration as a public urbanisation
The residents specifically want Planes del Rei to become a public urbanisation “in order to have the same rights and duties as other residents of the municipality.” The matter is currently in court. In fact, Serrano refers to a ruling by the Catalan High Court (TSJC) from July 2016 that dissolved the management company of the urbanisation “due to the town hall’s failure to carry out a proper process for the full integration of the urbanisation as urban land.”
A “fiscal plundering,” according to the residents
This resident also highlights the economic injustice, which he calls a “fiscal plundering.” To support this accusation, Serrano states that out of the €240,000 in IBI collected last year by the town hall, around €200,000 came from the urbanisation.
He also points out that they have received nothing from the nuclear plant fee or from other taxes and subsidies. In total, he estimates that the town hall owes an average of €588,000 annually — a sum that could be invested in improving the urbanisation.
An unexpected political twist
But the story doesn’t end there. The matter also has an interesting political dimension. In the last municipal elections, these residents ran as a political party – *Agrupación Electoral Unidos por Planes del Rei* – and, with 69 votes, they won one seat. That vote turned out to be decisive in breaking the tie between CiU (now PDeCAT) and PSC – both with three councillors, but CiU with seven more votes.
Eventually, Unidos por Planes del Rei decided to form a coalition government with CiU based on an agreement that the urbanisation would be integrated into the municipality and its maintenance would no longer be the responsibility of the residents.
Breakdown of the pact with CiU
The alliance broke down about four months ago due to non-compliance with the agreement and a lack of political will. “We feel betrayed, and that’s why we left the municipal government. Everything we ask for is legal and fair, and none of it has been fulfilled,” says Òscar Serrano, who leads the political group.
The town hall’s version
The mayor defends the legality of his inaction
From Pratdip Town Hall, they told this media outlet that all the demands of the residents and the political party cannot be fulfilled.
The mayor, Joan Maria Rovira, acknowledges that the urbanisation has urban planning deficiencies that can only be resolved once the services are officially taken over by the town hall.
For this to happen, the reparcelling and redevelopment projects must first be approved. These projects are already underway, but they should be financed by the residents themselves — an option they reject.
“They want the Town Hall to break the law, and that will not happen. The current legislation does not allow us to intervene in urban development,” he states.
Regarding the alleged fiscal plundering, he denies the accusations and attributes them to demands stemming from the financial problems of the company managing Planes del Rei.
The PSC distances itself
Finally, the PSC states that at the time they refused to sign any agreement, considering it “unfeasible,” and that instead they proposed allocating a fixed amount per inhabitant.
