When the Pratdip Town Hall invokes « prevaricación » to justify its inaction
For several years, successive mayors of Pratdip have relied on the same argument to explain their refusal to intervene in Planas del Rey:
“It is a private urbanisation. If I intervene, I could be prosecuted for prevaricación.”
This statement raises several questions. Does it accurately reflect Spanish law? Does the legal status of Planas del Rey justify such an interpretation? Are the administrative decisions taken by the municipality over the years consistent with this position?
The following elements provide an opportunity to examine these questions in the light of Spanish legislation and the administrative decisions that are publicly known.
1. What does prevaricación mean under Spanish law?
Prevaricación administrativa is defined in Article 404 of the Spanish Criminal Code:
“Any public authority or official who, knowingly, issues an arbitrary decision in an administrative matter shall be punished by disqualification from holding public office for a period of nine to fifteen years.”
This provision penalises the deliberate adoption of arbitrary or manifestly unlawful administrative decisions.
However, it does not, in itself, prohibit a municipality from intervening in an urbanisation. The key question is therefore whether the specific circumstances of Planas del Rey genuinely justify the argument put forward by the Town Hall.
2. The legal status of Planas del Rey deserves closer examination
Several known facts appear difficult to reconcile with the assertion that Planas del Rey is an entirely private urbanisation.
a) Collective facilities are registered in the name of the Town Hall
The streets, green areas and swimming pool of Planas del Rey are registered in the name of Pratdip Town Hall in the Falset Cadastre.
While cadastral registration is not, by itself, proof of legal ownership, it nevertheless reflects an administrative recognition that raises questions about the alleged exclusively private status of these facilities.
b) No known document expressly classifies the urbanisation as private
To date, neither the notarial deeds consulted nor the municipal documentation examined expressly describes Planas del Rey as a private urbanisation excluded from municipal services.
The absence of such an explicit classification deserves to be taken into account when assessing the legal status of the urbanisation.
3. Building permits issued by the Town Hall
Since the early 2000s, Pratdip Town Hall has repeatedly granted building permits in Planas del Rey.
Article 11.3 of Royal Legislative Decree 7/2015 sets out the conditions under which land may qualify as a solar, that is, land suitable for development.
The repeated granting of building permits therefore raises an important question: what planning status did the municipality attribute to these plots when issuing those permits?
This appears difficult to reconcile with the assertion that the municipality is now legally unable to intervene.
4. Obligations under Law 7/1985
Since 2017, Planas del Rey has been without public street lighting, although property owners continue to pay municipal taxes, including the IBI.
Article 26.1.a of Law 7/1985 establishes the minimum public services that Spanish municipalities are required to provide.
These include:
“Public street lighting, waste collection, drinking water supply, sewerage, road maintenance and access to public roads.”
In light of this provision, the situation in Planas del Rey raises questions regarding compliance with the municipality’s statutory obligations towards an inhabited area.
5. A contradiction that deserves clarification
The facts outlined above highlight several elements:
- collective facilities are registered in the name of the Town Hall;
- building permits have been granted over many years;
- municipal taxes continue to be collected;
- several essential public services remain unavailable.
These elements appear difficult to reconcile with the claim that the municipality cannot intervene in Planas del Rey because of the risk of committing prevaricación.
6. What options are available to residents?
Residents and property owners may consider several possible courses of action:
- formally request the official acceptance of the urbanisation together with a rehabilitation timetable;
- request the municipal services provided for under Article 26 of Law 7/1985, particularly public street lighting;
- request access to municipal documents under Transparency Law 19/2013;
- where appropriate, bring an administrative or judicial appeal;
- submit a complaint to the Síndic de Greuges de Catalunya (Catalan Ombudsman).
Conclusion: a legal question that remains open
The elements presented in this article show that the situation of Planas del Rey raises several legal questions that deserve clarification.
In particular, they invite closer examination of the consistency between the administrative decisions taken by the municipality over the years and the argument that intervening in the urbanisation would expose the Town Hall to the risk of committing prevaricación.
Ultimately, it will be for the competent administrative or judicial authorities to assess the legal significance of these elements. In the meantime, the residents of Planas del Rey are entitled to ask that the applicable legislation be explained transparently and applied consistently.
20/05/2025
Jim – La Tribune de Planas
Read also: Wastewater Discharge in Planas del Rey: A Problem That Persists
