Checking the Spanish Urbanism

CHECKING THE SPANISH URBANISM
El País - 01 March 2006



15 out of 24 demands for alleged abuses processed by the European Parliament since January 2005 come from Spain.

The Request Committee of the European Parliament speaks Spanish. This committee, created in order to receive the complaints of the European citizens, has become the duster for the tears used by every Spanish and residents in Spain who have suffered the town-planning abuses. They have now learnt the lesson with the justice and the policy. The Spanish Euro M.P. in the committee, David Hammerstein, from the Green Party, presented yesterday the data about the activity of the group: 15 out of 24 demands for urbanism which nowadays the committee processes are coming from Spain.

“The Spanish are not specially demanding. However they do go to Brussels because the Spanish judicial and political system cannot give them guaranties against the town-planning abuses”, as Hammerstein explained in Madrid yesterday. Euro M.P. Hammerstein -thanks to an agreement between PSOE (Spanish Labour-Socialist Party) and the Greens- gathers the demands of hundreds associations. Around 50 of them met yesterday in Madrid to analyze the problem of abuses and to create a national federation.

In that meeting the lawyer Inmaculada Rosas Ledesme, expert in town-planning topics, emphasized that “the mayors are with the constructors, no with the citizens” and justified that the demands go to Brussels: “When there is an illegal urbanization and we ask for the works to be stopped, we need one year to make the judge read the demand, and minimum one year more to wait for the result. In the end, we get a “wonderful” sentence, which is impossible to be applied because they try to minimize the demolitions.” And she added: “Like the works are made with municipal license, it is impossible to apply the Penal Code until the administrative channels find the work like illegal.”

The result is that the demolitions of the illegal works happen at strange times. Rosas, jurist of the Ayre association of Málaga, took like example Marbella, where the Regional Government, from the PSOE, has announced the legalization of 25000 of the 30000 housings built in accordance with the Plan of Urban Legislation considered illegal by the Regional Government.

Since July of 2004 until now the Request Committee has analyzed 24 demands of urban projects: three from Italy, two from France, one from Germany, one from Portugal, one from Hungary and fifteen from Spain. The demands received by the European Commission must be added to those. According to the last report of observance of the environmental directives, Spain is the country of EU that more often breaks the rules of the EU. The majority of the demands of abuses in Spain come from foreigners who live in the coast. These are admitted demands. Others, like the demands of the road of the reservoir in Madrid or the hotel in El Cabo de Gata (the Cape Cat) are not yet admitted, but it is probable than they increase the list.

Examples:

-Works in the M-30 (first ring road of Madrid). Ecologist, neighbours, politics from the PSOE and IU (Left United) explained the last week in Brussels their critics about the work. They argue that the City Hall of Madrid, from the PP (Popular Party) has undertaken the burying underground without the declaration of environmental impact, considering that the M-30 is an urban way, a street, and not a road. The critics support that the quality of the air has got worse and there is not any evaluation about the impact of the traffic increase. The protest in the presence of European Parliament allows the affected citizen go to Brussels to put forward their request publicly, whereas the demand in the European Commission is more administrative.

-Urbanism in Valencia. One of the “star” complaints in Brussels has been the revoked Law for the Regulation of Town-planning Activities of Valencia. Thousands of signatures grouped in six requests criticized that many owners of plots had to “give ground in exchange of infrastructures that they did not wish” and they had to give “their properties in exchange of a minimal compensation”, according to the summary of activity from the request committee.

The committee concluded in December a report about the request, which asks for a moratorium for the re-qualification of the rustic lands in the region of Valencia until the promulgation of the new law. The regional government of Valencia passed a new norm in January.

The president of the association Non-Abuses, the Canadian Charles Svovoba, explains that the decision to go to the Parliament was not casual: “We talked to M.P. of the Congress and autonomic, and they proposed the trip to Brussels. They said us: `If you want to waste the time, bring us the requests, but the best is going to Brussels´”. The organization Non-Abuses declare that 15000 signatures have been sent against the law. Svovoba adds: “I do not know why the ombudsman had not been able to help us so much like the European Parliament”.

Furthermore, the Parliament studies “the project for the enlargement of the port of Altea (Alicante) and the urbanization on the Algar river” because that would destroy a protected sea plant; the request of the German residents in Jávea, which asks “where are the European credits for the channel and other projects in the municipality”. A British has demanded the urbanization in Jávea in a no-urban land and the association complains about the project for the construction of 2200 housing “near to the Calpe salt mines”, because “it will threaten even more the population of flamingos”, which is protected.

-Construction in Cantabria. One association of neighbours from San Vicente de la Barquera (Cantabria) denounced the construction of 80 plots because of “the very serious impact over the environment”. An Italian who lives in Canarias presented the case of “demolition of more than 50000 housing built without license”, but he declares that some wealthy owners escaped of this case. Another British denounced an estate agency in Canarias.

One of the first requests came from the 32 associations of Sevilla, which denounced the project of the city hall for the construction of a huge parking in the centre of Sevilla. In the end, the city hall changed the project and the president of the neighbours, José Luis Cano, attributes it more to the demand than the work of Brussels.