The future of the Sitges Sea Club is on hold in the courts: the State wants to derail it, and the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJC) has put it on hold.

BarcelonaThe legal battles over the future of the Sitges Sea Club continue to advance. If on Monday the Supreme Court opened the door to studying the precautionary suspension of the demolition, the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) ruled on Tuesday. The Catalan high court provisionally suspended the demolition of the building, which was scheduled for June 2nd to violate the coastal law. However, the Spanish government delegation in Catalonia has already announced that it will ask the court to maintain the demolition on the scheduled date.

The TSJC's decision on Tuesday responds to an appeal by the owners of the facility, who appealed to the court to halt the demolition. Now the court has upheld the administrative appeal filed by the owners against the order from the Catalan Coastal Demarcation to close the facility and demolish the building.

The judges have made this decision as a precautionary measure, meaning that it is a provisional decision (the final decision will be issued in the ruling) that they have taken without waiting for the other parties involved to take a position, because there are only four working days left until the demolition date and letting that time pass would mean "one harm and another." On the other hand, postponing the demolition would not be a serious detriment to the Coastal Demarcation, say the judges, who reproach the body for "administrative passivity" regarding the club's "occupation of the public domain."

Three days for arguments

The Coastal Department has three days to present any arguments it deems appropriate to convince the judges that, as it argues, the building should be demolished. Sitges was founded in 1952 and occupies approximately 800 square meters next to the beach. According to the Coastal Department, the demolition is in response to a 1994 ministerial order that the Supreme Court upheld in 2003.