The Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Girona has initiated a criminal judicial process for alleged planning irregularities committed by the Begur City Council. Last November, the Consistory approved the urbanization and construction of nine plots and single-family homes on land that, according to several environmental organizations, are part of the Muntanyes de Begur Area of Natural Interest and the European Natura 2000 Network .
The preliminary investigation carried out by the prosecutor's office concludes that the action may constitute a crime of urban prevarication and another against land use planning. This has been communicated by the prosecutor responsible for the environment to the City Council, which has also sent the complaint to the Investigating Court of La Bisbal d'Empordà to investigate the case.
The ecologists recall that "up to three times" they opposed the main modification of the Partial Urban Plan for the Montcal sector, which will allow the urbanization and construction of nine chalets in this space.
They point out that they already warned that the promotion affected a part of protected space based on reports from the Department of the Environment and the Consell Català de Protecció de la Natura that indicated that the modification of the plan "should leave those lands as undecidable by affecting values that should be preserved ". The reports also pointed to the existence of priority community interest habitats of dunes with Mediterranean pine forests that could be affected by the construction.
The environmental organizations that reported the facts to the prosecutor's office - Ecologistes en Acció, Sos Costa Brava and Salvem Begur - are satisfied with the resolution. They trust that the decision "supposes the end of a stage of unrestrained urbanism in Begur affecting forests and mountains and a change of direction in urban policy".
The legal manager of Ecologistes en Acció de Catalunya, Josep Hurtado, states that this urban planning action was challenged in two ways. Apart from the criminal complaint, they have also submitted a contentious administrative appeal, which has already been accepted for processing.
However, urbanization and building work in the Puig Montcal sector continues. "For now the work is not stopped," says Hurtado, who indicates that only the La Bisbal investigative court could temporarily paralyze the work.
The mayoress of Begur, Maite Selva, assures that she feels endorsed by the Urbanism Commission, which gave the go-ahead to the third version of the project presented by the Consistory -which reduced the number of homes from 12 to 9- and also by the Plan Director Urbanistic of unsustainable sols of the Gironí coast, which did not declassify the sector. "I have full confidence in the work done because we have acted following the regulations," says Selva.
The modification of the partial plan was approved by nine of the eleven councilors of the Consistory. All the groups except the two councilors of the Més Begur i Esclanyà group, who distanced themselves from the government, approved this urban instrument.
