The Supreme courts the first resource to avoid the demolition of Valdecañas

The

has ratified the sentence of complete demolition of the tourist resort Isla de Valdecañas (Cáceres) that it ruled on February 9 by denying the incident of nullity raised by the owners of the resort homes and by the

which alerted of the alleged incompatibility of two of the five magistrates who issued the high court's ruling.

In his opinion, they should have abstained from the case.

The appeal filed requested the annulment of the sentence -which orders the demolition for the construction of the complex in a zone of special environmental protection ZEPA- considering that the judges

had already participated in the judicial process of the case in another previous instance, specifically when the case reached the Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura (TSJEx), an instance that ordered the partial demolition of the second part of the project two years ago but at the same time the maintenance of what was already built and in use.

The appellants considered that both magistrates incurred in a

an extreme that the Supreme rejects in this new pronouncement when considering that the appeal should have been presented, in any case, in a timely manner, when they met the components of the Chamber before being judged and not a posteriori: "The challenge must be proposed as soon as the cause on which it is based is known, because, otherwise, it will not be admitted for processing."

In addition, he considers that "the status of a member of the Court that issues a sentence does not prevent him from ruling on the execution of the same" because, assures the Supreme Court, "it guarantees knowledge of the scope of the same and its adequate execution."

The incident of nullity raised was also based on the fact that the Supreme Court should exclusively assess the existence or not of the causes of material impossibility raised by the TSJEx, which as a consequence of this proposed an alternative execution that contemplated maintaining what had already been built, "reconciling proportionate way the preservation of environmental interests, the development of the environment and property rights".

For the owners of the houses, this resolution of the high court "comes within what was expected and is something we expected", they admit but consider that "it was a necessary procedure" to be able to present an appeal: "We will defend the survival of the complex until the end, because we acted in good faith from the beginning and we believe in the future of Isla Valdecañas", they affirm.

In this sense, it must be remembered that the TSJEx issued a new Order on March 16 ordering the Board to approve a demolition plan for the complex within a maximum period of eight months.

Said resolution is also appealed by the affected parties.

Possible compensation for the demolition to the owners and the developer could cost the public treasury around 250 million euros.

The owners claim to feel "fully backed" by "the majority support" of Extremaduran society, as reflected in a survey carried out by Metroscopia, and made public this week by the government of

according to which 8 out of 10 Extremadurans " They consider this situation unfair and support us resorting to all possible judicial instances".

Said study -with a survey of 1,000 people- reflects that "as we have always defended, both the owners and different experts, the same survey confirms that three out of four inhabitants of Extremadura (74%) believe that demolishing Valdecañas would bring more damage what environmental benefits", they specify.

In this way, they consider that what is at stake is "the existence of a sustainable economic and environmental model for Extremadura and its inhabitants", since "tearing down Valdecañas would mean proclaiming that nothing can be done in Extremadura, even if it reconciles economic, social and and environmental".

In addition, the Junta de Extremadura has proposed to the rest of the parliamentary groups of Extremadura the possibility of submitting to the Congress of Deputies a proposal to reform the Land Law to reinforce legal certainty and reconcile urban planning legislation with the preservation of protected spaces .

In turn, 13 autonomous communities signed a manifesto in Santiago de Compostela in favor of reforming the legislation in favor of "responsible urban planning".

For its part, Ecologistas en Acción -which was the organization that filed the appeal with the TSJEx for the development to be completely demolished- has assured that the ZEPA Embalse de Valdecañas was declared in 2003 "in accordance with the law" and has warned about "the" manipulation and media noise promoted by the Board and welcomed by the developer companies to try to save the illegal urbanization.

In this way, the group wants to get out of what they consider "the latest ruse of the companies promoting illegal urbanization, which affirm that the space is not protected based on the surprising affirmation of the Government of Extremadura that there is no formal declaration of said Natura 2000 Network space".

The environmentalists defend that the urbanization is "illegal" as they have sentenced, they assure, "all the courts that have intervened in this long judicial process: the Superior Court of Extremadura, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court".

"However, the Junta de Extremadura itself, the same one that declared the ZEPA Embalse de Valdecañas and that should watch over its conservation, now affirms that there is no formal declaration of said Red Natura 2000 space," he pointed out.

The conservationists have denounced that "this is what the promoter companies, Golf Valdecañas and Marina Isla de Valdecañas, are clinging to, and have filed an appeal for reconsideration, since, according to their interpretation, "the entire judicial process is vitiated by radical annulment, since which is based on a non-existent ZEPA".

Ecologists in Action, which has responded in court to these resources from the promoters, has highlighted "how shocking it is" that it is an environmental organization, once again, that defends the protected natural spaces that should be protected by the Board, "Which now even sows doubts about his statement."

In this regard, he detailed that the ZEPA Embalse de Valdecañas was declared in 2003 and until four years later, when Law 42/2007 on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity was approved, there was no specific regulation regarding the approval procedure for special protection areas for birds (ZEPA).

Likewise, he has pointed out that what was in force in 2003 was Royal Decree 1997/1995, which establishes measures to help guarantee biodiversity through the conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora.

And it was the Central Government, they consider, that later, in June of that same 2003, officially communicated it to the European Commission.

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