Environmental groups and the Unió de Pagesos are taking the Almendro Origen agricultural park to court.

BarcelonaThe StopAgroparc platform, which brings together some 137 organizations, has filed an administrative appeal against the agropark project of the supermarket and food chain Ametller Origen in Alt Penedès. The organizations justify the lawsuit, directed against the Gelida City Council (Alt Penedès) and the Department of Territory of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), by considering the project "unlawful" and includes "serious environmental, urban planning, and procedural irregularities."

The appeal was filed by the Gelida Naturalists Association, one of the platform's member organizations, in the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC). Specifically, the lawsuit "challenges the final approval of the Specific Modification of the Municipal Urban Planning Plan (MPOUM) for the implementation of the Almendro project in the municipality of Gelida, according to a statement from the agricultural union Unió de Pagesos, which is also a member of the platform to stop the agropark.

Furthermore, the appeal also points out that "the Department of Territory and, especially, the General Directorate of Environmental Policies and the Natural Environment, have acted with a manifest misuse of power, exercising administrative powers for purposes other than those established by law."

The agropark is Almendro Origen's main investment project in recent years. It was initially presented in 2016, but criticism from environmental organizations halted it. In 2021, the company reintroduced it with numerous modifications. The project covers 258 hectares in the municipalities of Gelida and Sant Llorenç d'Hortons, in the Alt Penedès region, and plans an investment of 180 million euros over five years.

The area is expected to combine extensive agricultural areas, various food production plants, and renewable energy generation. In 2022, The Gelida City Council approved the urban planning changes to move it forward.

Ametller Origen has ruled out valuing the resource, but has defended the benefits of the project: "The agropark will be located in a space currently in disuse and largely occupied by abandoned vineyards. The project proposes preserving the Penedès landscape by replacing these unused vineyards with fruit trees, which allows for agrodiversity thanks to the change from a monoculture like the vineyard to a new one with more than 200 different crop varieties," the company said in an institutional statement. "The company recalls that the project is backed by an absolute majority of the Gelida council and has several reports that attest to its environmental viability," the statement added.

Water and wildlife

It is precisely the regulatory change approved in Gelida that is challenging the appeal. One of the reasons is that, given that the project affects two municipalities, the plaintiffs argue that the Gelida council "ignores the urban planning regulations that require supra-municipal planning and a comprehensive environmental assessment."

The lawsuit filed by the environmental organization claims that an expert report "reports an unjustified increase in the provision of water for industrial use," to the point of quadrupling the 2015 POUM forecast, which predicted water consumption in the municipality of 35,256 cubic meters (150,000 cubic meters), according to Unió de Pagesos. This would increase water consumption per inhabitant in Gelida by 22.5%, to 284 liters per day, a figure the plaintiffs describe as "unsustainable."

In this sense, the appeal questions the "insufficient justification" for the availability of water for the park's greenhouses: "Its management diagram is unrealistic, imprecise, and unfeasible, and will entail a 45% increase in water expenditure for economic activities throughout the municipality," the statement adds. Furthermore, the lawsuit points out that there is "inconsistency in the estimates" of the project's water needs, ignoring some of the planned activities.

Furthermore, the statement recalls that "the agropark is fully included within an area of wildlife interest" considered a "hunting and resting territory" for the Bonelli's eagle, considered endangered and "protected by European and national directives." According to Unió de Pagesos, two reports by the Fauna and Flora Service of the Generalitat published in 2017 and 2022 indicated that the Ametller project would be a "death sentence" for the birds.

Furthermore, the appeal alleges that the regulatory modification approved by the Gelida City Council "illegally classifies non-developable land as special protection" and ignores what is already provided for in the current urban plan, which prioritizes the construction of a bridge over the Anoia River.