New brake on the long-awaited Companion Animal Shelter Center (CAAC) in Barcelona, which was going to begin construction this November near the Collserola cemetery, in the Montcada i Reixac area. The contentious administrative court 11 of Barcelona has provisionally suspended the construction works, arguing that “they will cause damage that is difficult to repair” in the Collserola natural park. The judge thus responds to the precautionary measures against the project due to environmental impact on a protected area that the environmental group Depana presented in June.
The court decision comes after Barcelona City Council announced the start of construction. Now, both the Barcelona City Council and the Montcada City Council have announced that they will appeal the resolution.
From Barcelona Urban Planning they point out that “there is no ruling that questions its location” and that the project meets all legal requirements, that it received a favorable report from Territori and that the Territorial Urban Planning Commission of the Generalitat approved its special plan. The modification of the General Metropolitan Plan, approved in 2017, converted six hectares into facilities to build the center and, according to the City Council, “13.9 hectares were classified as forestry,” with an increase in trees in the park.
The new center, with space for 350 dogs and 150 cats and an investment of 19 million euros, is a historic demand from animal rights organizations that have been waiting for it for 20 years, since the installation of the Arrabassada road - Built in 1972 and designed as a kennel – it has become small and obsolete. “We have been overwhelmed for six years,” they point out in the center.
Marta Gumà, head of Depana's animal defense area and former president of the entity, makes it clear that “in 2019 we presented the studies for the center to move to six hectares of Montjuïc Park. But no one from the City Council wanted to listen to us. It was, and is, an ideal location because it is an urban and well-connected space, without the brutal impact of Collserola.” Gumà, who defines himself as an animalist, considers that the future center “would have to be only for dogs and the cats would have to be cared for in an urban feline adoption center that the City Council promised in 2018.”
In Montcada they do not understand the precautionary suspension. The president of the Territorial Area of the City Council, Andreu Iruela, details that the center is “an opportunity” for the city, since in 2014 an urban planning agreement was signed with Barcelona. “He committed – and has fulfilled – to fix the Rec Comtal, eliminate the barracks in Collserola and in the Turó de Montcada and to improve connections between Can Cuiàs and Ciutat Meridiana.” The project foresees "a building integrated into the mountains, with terraces adapted to the slope, and green roofs and, in exchange, 13 hectares of forest have been transferred to Collserola."
