The associations Salvem la Platja de Pals and SOS Costa Brava are demanding a moratorium on urban development in Pals and the urgent review of its General Plan..

Pals has one of the most outdated planning frameworks in Catalonia, as the Town Council halted the process for the new POUM, which had been initially approved on 28 January 2015, after receiving the unfavourable environmental assessment report and facing strong public opposition to the destruction of the remaining natural habitats at Pals Beach.

The association Salvem la Platja de Pals, together with SOS Costa Brava, warn that the town council has just granted a building licence for 18 dwellings in the natural area of great environmental importance known as the “Giant Dune”, a priority habitat of community interest (HIC) code 2270, pine-dune habitat., with exceptional geomorphological and landscape value, being there one of the largest continental dunes over a pine forest in Catalonia and the developer has begun the works by removing the pine grove and damaging the entire habitat. Previously, the Town Council authorised the construction of a rainwater attenuation basin, which has damaged part of its geological value and cut down the entire pine forest on the dune's ridge, destabilising it. See the expert opinion.

Environmental organisations warn that the 1986 General Urban Planning Scheme – one of the most outdated in Catalonia – lacks sufficient environmental safeguards, and incorrectly classifies natural areas such as the Giant Dune or the Pals Pine Forest as “urban land”, with a potential for 95 new second homes, which practically means the disappearance of this habitat in Catalonia, which is mostly found at Pals Beach and at “La Roca de Sa Bruixa”, a legendary, large rock located right in the urbanisable pine forest.

Environmental organisations also lament that right in front of this habitat of great natural interest lies the skeleton of a building belonging to the same owner, abandoned for more than 30 years, and believe that, before allowing the destruction of this forest area of natural and scenic interest, the Council should have required the owner to either complete the building or demolish it.

The current planning also provides for the development of other natural areas of great geological, faunal and floral interest, dunes with pine forests at Pals Beach, near the giant dune such as Palsmar, Rodors and Paratge Rodors, with more than 500 new homes at Pals Beach, mainly intended for second homes, alongside the Begur Mountains PEIN and the biological connector between the PEIN and the Natural Park.

The Entities also warn that the obsolete 1986 planning designation classifies the Vernegar pond as “urban land”, a fragile wetland ecosystem with rice paddies and a dune area north of Rodors and next to the Montgrí Natural Park, the Medes Islands and the Lower Ter and the partial Natural Reserve of the Aiguamolls of the Lower Ter, which the plan calls “Els Jonquers”, where it provides for a high build density of 6,000 m² for hotel and commercial use and a large car park which, besides being a potentially flood-prone area, will have a serious impact on the natural park.

The Plan also provides for the construction of a new road called “Vial Nord”, crossing the Vernegar pond, with a significant impact on the Basses d'en Coll. On 26 May 2022, the Town Council initiated a point amendment to the General Plan's road system to build this road, in advance of the approval of the new POUM, without a full environmental assessment, receiving unfavourable reports from the Department of Climate Action – because the current planning has not undergone environmental assessment – as well as from the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), the Biodiversity and Natural Environment Section and the Natural Park.

POUM STOPPED

The Town Council initially approved the new POUM on 28 January 2015, maintaining its high residential potential of 2,400 new homes, mostly second residences in beach areas covered by dunes and pine forests, facing strong popular opposition with 327 objections, who were mostly calling for the protection of the natural dune areas in the Pals beach area.

After spending more than €132,168 on its production, The Town Council halted the procedure on 1 December 2017 after receiving an unfavourable report from the Directorate-General for Environmental Policies calling for reclassifications and from the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), which, among other things, warned of insufficient water supply resources available for the planned developments. The predatory plan for the territory, with extensive residential developments in areas containing habitats of community interest, remains in force almost four decades after its approval (37 years), allowing urbanisation and construction to continue in forest areas without having undergone an environmental assessment procedure and in breach of the principle of environmental sustainability.

Furthermore, in 2022, after having not initiated the process again for 7 years, the Pals Town Council gave initial approval for the modification of the General Plan for the road system to the «Vial Nord» in order to speed up the construction of a road over the Vernegar pond. This involved an additional expense of €19,650 for its drafting. However, the project received unfavourable reports from Acció Climàtica, the Natural Park, the ACA, and the Biodiversity and Natural Environment Section due to its serious ecological impact on the natural environment, demanding a modification of its route away from the pond. Consequently, neither of these two processes, which together represent over €150,000 in drafting costs, has served to modify the municipal planning.

Save Pals Beach and SOS Costa Brava warn that the Judgment of the Superior Court of Justice, As of 22 February 2011, it obliges the Town Council not to process any development or project until the new POUM is approved. Furthermore, the Resolution of the Parliament, of 26 October 2016, which urges the Government to “initiate the procedures and mechanisms necessary to protect the Rodors sectors by expanding the PEIN area and to adopt the measures necessary for the" Effective protection of the dune and pine forest area at Pals Beach with high environmental value”, and the Resolution of the Ombudsman Of 17 February 2017, requests the declassification of the pine forests on the dune and of the Jonquers.

On the other hand, the Master Plan for the revision of unsustainable land on the Girona coast, approved in December 2019, reclassifies some areas, while still allowing for the urbanisation of 30 hectares of dune land over pine forest with nearly 600 homes, and gives councils a maximum of two years to incorporate the declassifications and landscape integration rules into their planning, and the Pals council has still not done so.

The entities denounce the serious urban planning irregularities being committed in the municipality in the execution of the General Plan, which are being documented through the processing of the urbanisation and development project for the giant dune, affecting HIC, and the attempt to damage the wetland at Estany Vernegar by constructing the North Road, and call on the Town Council to urgently adopt an urban development moratorium, suspend the application of its outdated planning and halt the urban developments and buildings in areas of special natural and scenic value at Pals Beach.

Therefore, the entities denounce the municipality's complicity in the destruction of this space, since the municipality is aware of the situation and it is urgent to adopt a moratorium to halt the destruction of the municipality's most naturally valuable soils.

It must, in any event, ensure in the POUM review process the fullest possible protection of public and general interests, respect for the environment and sustainability, transparency and objectivity, and independence from economic interests.

Article creation date: 8/3/2023.

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