The Supreme Court of Andalucía has paralysed the General Plan for National Resources in the Cabo de Gata natural park (PORN, Plan de Ordenación de Recursos Naturales) as it agrees with a coalition of Ecological Groups that in places the plan, rather than protect the natural park, serves to legalise “illegal” buildings and further speed up the destruction of the park.
For example, it was discovered that under this plan El Algarrobico hotel would have been technically legalised by being reclassified as “C3” land, which would have given Azata del Sol (the construction company) grounds to appeal against the demolition order. This was one of the examples cited by the court in its decision to paralyse the plan.
The contention is over parts of the Plan that reclassify protected land as “C3”. C3 is an urban planning code for “pre existant habitation nuceli and other transformed zones” and is designed to protect legally built areas such as Agua Amarga, and allows the development of urban infrastructure for residents in those areas.
The claim from the Ecologist coalition that launched the legal appeal, which the Supreme Court agreed with, is that the PORN reclassifies illegally built areas as C3 which would legalise them “by the back door” and permit urban infrastucture and even expansion of those zones.
As I understand it, the Junta must now modify the affected parts of the plan before relaunching it or convincing the court to accept the modifications.