Press release from the Asociación de Vecinos y Residentes del Sector Replá, Parcent.

Unprecedented Court Ruling Questions Planning Rules

The tiny village of Parcent in the Jalón Valley hit the headlines again this week. A landmark ruling from the Superior Court of Justice in Valencia has brought into question the whole principle of city planning procedures in the Valencian Community and raises doubts about the future of Valencia’s controversial planning laws. The case was brought to the court by a group of mainly British and Dutch residents who were affected by a Programme of Integrated Performance (PAI) approved by the Council of Parcent in January this year, just days before LRAU was abolished. The plan to construct 1500 houses on mainly open countryside and pine forest would have effectively doubled the population of the village. Under LRAU, it would also have meant that existing residents of 50 homes constructed in the 1980’s would have been forced to pay for new infrastructure and forfeit land.

In a hard-hitting judgement, the court’s ruling suspends the plan for La Replá in its entirety. It accepts the residents’ contention that the PP controlled council was in breach of proper procedures, contravened residents’ rights, and would have left them defenceless against the developer, Terras de L’Horta SL (part of the Ballester Group).

The ruling goes much further, however. In a decision which is without precedent in Valencia, the court questions the “riotous” development of the Valencian Community through the use of PAI’s to reclassify millions of square metres of rustic land. It goes on to criticise, using Parcent as an example, the “disturbed development” of communities without proper and adequate planning.

The court affirms that development on this scale is excessive and requires a planning process that “weighs the integrated needs of the municipality and its sustainable development”. It suggests that PAI’s are not a suitable means to achieve this end and that it requires a much more careful and considered process that examines the sustainability of development and its impact on the community.

The suspended PAI for the Replá area of Parcent is one of three provisionally approved by the council in the face of massive opposition from both the Spanish and European residents of the village. All three plans were approved in the absence of a properly considered and consulted General Plan (PGOU) for the area. A draft PGOU was adopted by the council in July this year, but this was seen as little more than an attempt by the ruling PP to justify decisions which they had already taken.

The ruling follows last week’s highly critical report from the Valencian Ombudsman which criticised the council for approving the plans without a favourable report from the Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar (Water Authority) and called for all three PAI’s to be suspended. The court’s decision is a major blow for Parcent’s beleaguered PP councillors, led by Mayor, Mari Carmen Lopez Fernandez and Ismael Reig Poquet (brother of one of the major landowners in La Replá) who have persistently ignored the people of Parcent as expressed in two petitions signed my more than half the population.

Commenting on behalf of the residents of La Replá, Mark Harrison said:

“I am delighted by the decision. It vindicates our claim that the town hall acted improperly by rushing through plans for urbanisation on a massive scale. The decision offers hope to all those people in Parcent, including many of our Spanish neighbours, who have campaigned against the destruction of vast areas of beautiful countryside. Perhaps now, finally, the council will think again. Instead of exploiting Valencia’s unjust planning laws, usurping people’s rights and working hand-in-hand with the developers, they should start afresh by listening to what the people say. If that happens then this will be a victory for democracy – something that has been sadly lacking in Parcent for the past four years.”