The residents of Gósol decide to leave Lleida and integrate into Barcelona

BarcelonaThe residents of Gósol want to belong to the Barcelona metropolitan area. This is the decision that, by an overwhelming majority, the residents of this municipality of just 200 inhabitants, currently part of the Lleida metropolitan area, have made. Between ten in the morning and two in the afternoon, about a hundred Gósol residents filed through the Town Hall and cast their ballots in the referendum on the change. In fact, Gósol is the only town in Berguedà that does not belong to the Barcelona demarcation. The question to be answered was: "Do you agree that the municipality of Gósol should request a change of province and be integrated into the province of Barcelona?"" A total of 88 citizens voted in favor, while 12 opted to remain part of Lleida. The referendum is not legally binding, but the Lleida Provincial Council has pledged to respect the outcome and support the municipality through the administrative process required to implement the change. This was reiterated by its president, Joan Talarn, in a post on X this Sunday: "We want to assure all residents that we will respect the result, as we must, and provide them with all the necessary support."

The pending procedures

Now the municipality will need to request favorable reports on the change from the provincial councils, the regional council, and the regional government. The mayor of Gósol, Rafael López (ERC), celebrated that the results support a long-standing demand, which had already failed on a previous occasion. As explained by AHORAThis town on the slopes of Pedraforca was included in Lleida simply because the Torrentsenta River—which flows through its municipal boundaries—flows into the Solsonès region. But the final decision rests with Congress, since if the proposal goes ahead, the provincial division law will have to be amended. One of the reasons behind the town's request to change its jurisdiction is that Barcelona has more available resources than Lleida. Having this support is key to the town's survival, where only about a hundred residents live year-round. But, as the mayor explained to this newspaper, there is also a question of identity: "We have no problem with the Provincial Council or the people of Lleida, but we don't feel like we're from Lleida," López stated. The Valencian precedent

This is the first time in Catalonia that a municipality has requested to be integrated into another district. There have been cases of towns requesting to change districts: for example, A year ago Olost voted to return to Osona, so it left Lluçanès.where it was integrated when Parliament created this region in 2023.

In Spain, however, there is a precedent for a change of demarcation. This is the Valencian municipality of Gátova, with fewer than 500 inhabitants, which in 1995 went from Castellón to Valencia. Despite its historical and geographical ties with Valencia, the border demarcation decreed in 1833 included the municipality within the demarcation of Castellón. After several failed attempts during the 20th century, the residents finally succeeded in getting Congress to address their demand with a petition campaign in favor of the change.