A judge has revoked another agreement of the Barcelona City Council from the stage of Ada Colau by which Comte Borrell’s green axis was approved, as happened with that of Consell de Cent. It has been concluded that it could not be processed as an ordinary work, but that to pedestrianize a street the General Metropolitan Plan (PGM) had to be modified.
The ruling has ruled in favor of the Unió d’Eixos Comercials TurÃstics of Barcelona, ​​which had presented an appeal against the pedestrianization of this axis on Comte Borell Street. It is the second sentence that overturns one of the so-called Eixos Verds planned by former mayor Ada Colau (BComú), after another court, in this case the contentious-administrative court number 5 of Barcelona, ​​already revoked in September 2023 the “superblock” of the Consell de Centwhen it was already inaugurated.
The new ruling was issued by the Administrative Litigation Court number 15 of Barcelona and on the “Eix Verd” of Comte Borrell. This has included the same decision as in Consell de Cent, reverse the pedestrianization process and return to the previous street planning.
Mediation process
However, in the previous case of Consell de Cent, whose ruling was issued after finishing all the works, the street has not been cleared, but rather a mediation process has been entered into at the will of all parties, among them also Barcelona Oberta. The new ruling calls for revoking the action for not being “in accordance with the law” and condemns the City Council “to restore in its being and state, as defined by the PGM of 1976, the road and the intersection affected by the administrative act.” .
Specifically, the ruling has affected the agreement of the Barcelona government of May 26, 2022 on the executive redevelopment projects of the new square located at the intersection of the “Eixos Verds” of Consell de Cent and Comte Borrell. Also on the sections of Comte Borrell between Avenida Roma and Gran VÃa, on the one hand, and between Calabria and Comte d’Urgell on the other. It has also affected a last section, in this case Consell de Cent street between Comte Urgell and Casanova.
The work project replaces the division of current road-sidewalk levels with a single continuous surface platform of a single level, which is deployed from façade to façade and which incorporates different pavements depending on whether they are intended for each of the longitudinal strips of the streets. . For the judge, These works are “an identical copy” of the “superblock” of Consell de Cent street, already knocked down by justice.
Thus, “under the appearance of what the Barcelona City Council calls an Executive Project of ordinary work, an urban planning action transforming the Eixample road network is hidden, which therefore would have eventually had to be processed and, where appropriate, approved through a Modification punctual of the General Metropolitan Plan”, it has been expressed. Since it was not done in this way, the judge determined that the agreement approving said executive project of ordinary work is “null and void”.
