The new plans to review unsustainable land on the coast temporarily stop the construction of 85,000 homes
The Generalitat seeks to harmonize municipal planning, adapt it to climate change and prevent further damage to the landscape
In September of last year, the Advisory Council for the Sustainable Development of Catalonia (CADS), a body dependent on the Generalitat, presented a report on the future of the Catalan coast. It contained numerous recommendations to adapt it to the ravages of the climate change, but it also gave off a certain stench of anticipated autopsy: “a coastline to the limit”, they titled their forensics. They talked about the rush regression of the beaches and the river deltas, of the disappearance of dune systems that act as a barrier against the sea, “poor state of preservation” of half of the natural habitats and of the massive urbanization of the coast. The brick covers 59% of the coastline in its first 100 meters, a percentage that grows to 81% if Cap de Creus and Delta de l’Ebre, the main protected areas, are discounted.
Backtracking is always difficult, but after many decades of urban excesses, wild speculation and tourist overcrowding, the winds have begun to change. The laws have become restrictive, at least those that emanate from the Generalitat. So much for the citizen pressure as for the climate change imperatives. But also for the will to “put order & rdquor; in the ungovernable skein of municipal urban planning, some totally obsolete, which have contributed to spurring the recurring corruption surrounding the brick.
That Purpose of amendment took its first steps in 2005 with the Urban Master Plans for the Coastal System (PDUSC), who left outside the urbanization process about 230 square kilometers of coastline, twice the municipal term of Barcelona. “We ran the risk of having sawn off the legs of the chairs where we sat & rdquor ;, says the geographer Oriol Nel.lo, then secretary for Territorial Planning. “The PDUSC tried to mark a turning point & rdquor ;. That massive declassification of land for its preservation, promoted by the last Socialist Executive of Pasqual Maragall, has continued with the governments independentistas, which launched in 2015 the review of “unsustainable soils & rdquor; of the coastline.
Last year it was approved Master Plan for Non-Sustainable Soils on the Girona Coast and is currently in the process of processing the one that will reorder the coasts of Barcelona and Tarragona. The latter excludes the metropolitan area of the Catalan capital, which will be dealt with separately. “These plans are important because will help reduce pressure on the coastline, where there are few areas left to be developed”, affirms Andreu Cacho from the Grup d’Estudi i Protecció dels Ecosistemes Catalans (GEPEC). They will serve to keep connectors between ecosystems coastal and mountainous, preserve areas of high floristic interest and nesting or wintering spaces & rdquor ;.
This time the revised space is somewhat more conflictive because it includes building land undeveloped or partially developed, as well as false urban land, generally occupied by natural environments. And although none of the plans includes demolitions or aspires to reverse previous excesses, they do seek put an end to a good part of the 120,000 homes planned on the coast, according to the CADS count. His black beasts are the isolated urbanizations of urban centers, developments in flood zones and on slopes greater than 20% or projects with a high landscape impact.
85,000 homes temporarily stopped
The Costa Brava plan has served to halt the construction of 15,000 homes, half of those contemplated in its initial moratorium, while the from Malgrat de Mar to Alcanar has temporarily suspended the development of another 70,000, a figure that will probably decrease when the plan is finally approved. “The Generalitat has been careful. He has tried to declassify as much soil as possible, but without having to incur in compensation. This explains why not all the sectors initially planned on the Costa Brava were protected,” explains Josep Maria Aguirre, professor of Administrative Law and member of the urban planning commission that approved the Girona plan.
It is not a trivial matter. Almost all of the land transformed into non-developable land or those whose development guidelines have been restricted belong to individuals and property developers. And in places as coveted as the Costa Brava, a maximalist approach could have given rise multi-million dollar claims in the tribunals. A position that has left, however, a bittersweet aftertaste between social entities and environmentalists emerged in recent years to demand the brake to the concrete on the coastline.
“We are happy, but we want more”, says Lluís Estamariu, spokesman for SOS Costa Daurada. “The Generalitat should have been more ambitious and not only with the moratorium. it takes a action plan to deconstruct and release the coastal areas most affected by climate change, erosion or lack of sedimentation & rdquor ;. Not all municipalities have been affected by the review. Those who have municipal urban planning planning (POUM) after 2010, those theoretically adapted to the most recent environmental or landscape criteria.
insufficient ambition
“The ultimate philosophy of these plans is to put order. There were hundreds of municipal plans from different periods and it was important to harmonize them & rdquor ;, say sources from the Department of Territory and Sustainability. In Girona, five large municipalities were left out; in Barcelona and Tarragona, another 11. “The master plan is a big step forward, but clearly insufficient because there is still a great construction potential that has not been affected & rdquor ;, says Eduard de Ribot, spokesman for SOS Costa Brava, where the appetite for funds and promoters has returned to upholster their forests with luxury residences for the summer.
“Some town halls they allied themselves with the promoters to make lobi against the master plan arguing that they already had approved plans or signed agreements. But if anything has been shown, it is that, with political will, urban planning can be changed of a country in 24 hours & rdquor ;, maintains De Ribot. The City Council of Begur is the only one at the moment that has announced his intention to challenge the plan in court.
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For the promoters These are not bad times. In the market there is much more demand than supply and 80% of everything that is built is sold before the works are finished, according to the Associació de Promotors de Catalunya. The sector does not seem too worried. “We have not yet presented allegations to the Barcelona and Tarragona plan because it is not known which plans will be definitively suspended. It is likely that some are justified because nobody has done anything to develop them for decades & rdquor ;, says its technical secretary general, José Donés. “That does not mean that we are concerned about the high legal uncertainty of these rules”.
The land reorganization in progress will serve as a rehearsal for what is to come. And it is that, according to some studies, it is likely that in the not too distant future there will be demolish houses on the front line Y move infrastructure inland to protect them from the slaps of climate change. “These master plans will serve to know where the administration limits: how far can the Generalitat go without going through the box & rdquor ;, says the lawyer Josep Maria Aguirre.