The new Via Laietana adds another judicial setback

BarcelonaThe major urban transformations promoted during Ada Colau's mandate in Barcelona continue the particular judicial ordeal. In the labyrinth of sentences On the green axis of Consell de Cent, there is also the questioning from the courts of the reform of the Via Layetana, inaugurated just two weeks ago. How has it progressed? The Vanguard And the ARA has confirmed that the 14th Administrative Court of Barcelona has once again ruled invalid the City Council's agreement that allowed the redevelopment of the street to go ahead. one year The Court had already issued a similar ruling in response to an appeal filed by the Chamber of Infrastructure, Equipment, and Public Services Concessionaires. This time, the ruling responds to an appeal filed by Barcelona Oberta, which connects several commercial and tourist axes in the capital. The judges who have ruled on the green axis of Via Laietana have ruled that, since it is an artery that "has the function of a metropolitan accessibility road and not strictly local or neighborhood," it should have been renovated through an amendment to the General Metropolitan Plan and does not have an ordinary project. The executive redevelopment project "conceals a modification of the essential determinations that the General Metropolitan Plan attributes to Via Layetana without following the legally established procedure for doing so, and by decision of a manifestly incompetent body," referring to the City Council's Ecology, Urban Planning, Infrastructure, and Mobility Commission. The Barcelona Urban Planning Subcommittee, which is a body of the Generalitat, must modify it."

According to the court, the City Council's Superblock project is being developed piecemeal through ordinary works projects "trying to avoid the procedure for ad hoc modification of the General Metropolitan Plan," which "would oblige the council."

The City Council will tour there

As it did with the first ruling a year ago, Barcelona City Council will appeal this decision to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC). The First Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning, Laia Bonet, defended the work carried out by City Council technicians on Via Laietana and emphasized that it remains a route with "sustainable mobility." "These transformations are here to stay, and we will not back down," Bonet argued, emphasizing that the City Council will continue to defend its positions.

For now, the first case The fact that the Supreme Court has already responded does not allow the council to be optimistic. Regarding the section of Consell de Cent between Bruc and Casanova, four of the five judges who reviewed the ruling noted that it was "clear" that "the functionality of the road has changed and it has essentially lost its connecting and liaison function," and concluded that the City Council did not follow the proper legal procedure. Municipal sources have already announced that they will appeal to the Supreme Court. A fifth judge dissented and issued a dissenting opinion.