European Property Rights and Wrongs - Diana Wallis MEP

the people of Parcent who welcomed the delegation with hope and passion and
subsequently looked to Europe to defend their rights and interests.
The various reports by the Petitions Committee on urban planning abuses in
Spain directly affected the Valencian land laws resulting in the replacement of
the LRAU by LU and a greater respect for EU Directives. Also the interest shown
by the European Parliament and the backing of so many MEPS from different
parties and countries generated an enormous amount of publicity that helped
keep the case of Parcent in the public eye and ensured the scrutiny of legal reports
required for progress of plans.
The eventual outcome was the turning down of the plans by the Valencian regional
government in November 2009, due in part to a negative report from the local water
authority and negative reports on the impact of the plans on the affected forest
areas, fauna and flora. This confirmed what we had upheld before the Petitions
Committee, which an environmental impact report should have been carried out
before the provisional approval by the council in accordance with EU directives and
if this had been done, the plans would have been rejected at the first stage.
The people of Parcent will be forever grateful to the intervention of the Petitions
Committee, which connects the citizen directly to the EU institutions and the support
we received made the European Institutions and their actions relevant and
necessary to the citizens here.
However, the story is not quite over. The local Council are still facing the outcome
of criminal charges of breach of legal duty dating back to 2007, bought by the
promoters of the original plans. The Council is also being sued for damages by
the same building company for what they claim was the negligent administrative
handling of their building plan by the current Council. We await a just resolution
of these cases and hope that Parcent can return to being a peaceful, beautiful village
in the mountains, without the threat and consequences of the environmental
and social damage threatened by excessive urbanisation.
Jackie Cotterill 2011 l
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