On 28 April 2021, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) rejected the appeal lodged by Pratdip Town Council against the order of 12 December 2017 concerning the enforcement of the dissolution of the Urban Development Conservation Entity (EUCC) of Les Planes del Rei.
The ruling provides an important clarification: the dissolution of the EUCC had already been ordered by the final TSJC judgment of 21 July 2016. There was therefore no need for a new municipal decision to declare the dissolution again.
The court also stated that the Town Council must cooperate in enforcing the judgment and carry out the necessary actions to ensure that the dissolution is effectively implemented.
What Pratdip Town Council was challenging
The case originated in the order issued on 12 December 2017 by Administrative Court No. 1 of Tarragona as part of the enforcement of the 2016 judgment.
Pratdip Town Council appealed against that order and requested, among other things:
- that the order be annulled;
- that the application for enforcement be declared inadmissible or, alternatively, dismissed;
- that enforcement of the 2016 judgment be considered to require a prior municipal resolution formally declaring the dissolution of the EUCC, in accordance with the Catalan urban planning regulations invoked by the Town Council.
It is mainly on this last point that the TSJC gives a particularly clear answer.
What the court had decided in December 2017
The order of 12 December 2017 had established that, in accordance with the TSJC judgment of 2016, the EUCC of Les Planes del Rei was dissolved by virtue of the judicial ruling itself.
It also stated that the former governing body of the EUCC would become, in accordance with Catalan urban planning regulations, the body responsible for its liquidation.
The court had, however, expressly limited the scope of that order.
It stated that the proceedings were not the appropriate place to determine the respective obligations of the different parties in relation to the dissolved entity, both because there was insufficient information to do so and because this issue did not form part of the enforcement proceedings.
The TSJC confirms that the dissolution does not require a new municipal decision
In its judgment of 28 April 2021, the TSJC rejected the Town Council’s arguments.
The court recalled that the judgment of 21 July 2016, which had become final, had already ordered the dissolution of the EUCC of Les Planes del Rei.
It therefore considered that enforcing that decision did not require the Town Council first to adopt a new administrative act deciding once again whether or not the dissolution complied with the law.
The dissolution had already been ordered by the court.
According to the TSJC, the judgment itself provided sufficient legal basis for its enforcement.
In simple terms: the Town Council did not have to decide a second time whether the EUCC should be dissolved. Its dissolution had already been ordered by a final TSJC judgment in 2016.
The Town Council must cooperate in enforcing the dissolution
The TSJC also recalled that the individuals and public authorities concerned must provide the necessary cooperation to ensure the full enforcement of court decisions.
In the case of Les Planes del Rei, the court stated that Pratdip Town Council must provide the cooperation required to make the dissolution of the EUCC effective.
The Town Council must therefore adopt and carry out the actions needed to implement the dissolution, without any new municipal resolution declaring it again being necessary.
At the same time, the former governing body of the EUCC, now acting as the liquidation body, must proceed with the complete liquidation of the entity.
What this judgment does not decide
The scope of the ruling must nevertheless be defined carefully.
It confirms the enforcement of the dissolution of the EUCC and the liquidation process resulting from it, but it does not automatically determine how all future responsibilities are to be divided between the Town Council, the former EUCC and the property owners.
In particular, the judgment does not, by itself, decide:
- the formal administrative handover of the entire residential development;
- responsibility for each service or infrastructure;
- the future funding of those services;
- the financial consequences of liquidating the former EUCC.
These issues must be distinguished from the legal question addressed in this ruling: the EUCC had been dissolved by the 2016 judgment and that dissolution had to be enforced.
The Residents’ Association among the parties to the proceedings
The “Les Planes del Rei” Residents’ Association appears, together with several property owners, among the respondents in these appeal proceedings.
However, the judgment of 28 April 2021 is not primarily concerned with the legal recognition of the association itself.
Its main subject is the appeal lodged by Pratdip Town Council against the enforcement order of 12 December 2017 and the conditions under which the 2016 dissolution judgment had to be implemented.
The Town Council’s appeal is dismissed
The TSJC ultimately decided to dismiss Pratdip Town Council’s appeal in its entirety.
The Town Council was also ordered to pay the costs of the appeal proceedings, capped at €2,000, including VAT.
The judgment was issued on 28 April 2021 and notified on 10 May 2021.
At that time, the judgment of 28 April itself was not yet final: the ruling stated that an appeal in cassation could be prepared within thirty working days.
A further step in the dissolution of the EUCC
This ruling forms part of proceedings that had begun several years earlier.
After the TSJC judgment of 21 July 2016 ordered the dissolution of the EUCC, the order of December 2017 set out the first steps for its enforcement. The judgment of 28 April 2021 then confirmed that the dissolution did not depend on a new decision by Pratdip Town Council.
The ruling therefore clarifies an essential point in the legal history of Les Planes del Rei: the dissolution had already been ordered by the courts; what remained was to ensure its effective enforcement and complete the liquidation of the entity.
Jim – La Tribune de Planas
