Urban planning

The Supreme Court (TS) has rejected the appeal of a company against the approval of a municipal register of undeveloped plots and the instructions for its operation. The company argued that the city council had omitted a mandatory step , to conduct a public consultation before drafting the texts. During the processing, there was indeed a period of public information , in which interested parties could submit allegations, and the city council expressly responded to those of the affected company.

The company believed that this subsequent participation could not compensate for the lack of initial consultation. The city council, on the other hand, argued that the specific rules of urban planning should apply, and not the general rules for drafting regulations. After the challenge was rejected at the instance, the controversy reached the TS.

For the TS, the key is not to decide whether the prior consultation is mandatory in all cases, but to verify which procedure corresponds to these instruments. Urban planning has its own regulation that includes its channels for citizen participation. Therefore, as the resolution explains, that specific regulation displaces the general rules when it establishes different procedures or does not require any of those provided in the common procedure.

In this matter, the Catalan urban planning regulations were applied. The registration of plots and its instructions had been approved following the procedure established in it, which did not refer to the prior public consultation of art.133.1 of the Law on Common Administrative Procedure. The TS thus applies the criterion that this procedure comes into play when the corresponding urban planning regulation requires it through an express reference.

There is an important nuance, the TS does not say that the subsequent public information has remedied the lack of initial consultation. What it states is that this consultation was not mandatory in this procedure and, therefore, its absence did not justify annulling the municipal decisions.

If you feel harmed and dissatisfied with an urban planning action, our professionals can advise you in defending your rights.