The judicial decision follows the Córdoba City Council's refusal to grant autonomy to Villarrubia. This long-standing neighborhood demand, which seeks the establishment of a local autonomous entity (ELA) similar to that of Encinarejo, gained significant momentum approximately a year ago.
In May 2025, the Platform for Villarrubia's Autonomy submitted 2,501 signatures to the Council's headquarters to formalize their petition. Residents of the district have indicated that this aspiration dates back to the Second Republic, when several autonomous localities, including Villarrubia, were planned but ultimately unsuccessful, a situation that also persisted during the Dictatorship.
“"We are not asking for something impossible; we are asking for what the law does allow: the creation of a decentralized territorial circumscription, a legally recognized figure by both the Andalusian Local Autonomy Law and the Local Regime Base Law, a formula that does not break the unity of the municipality but brings management closer to the residents."
Last July, the municipal group of the PP rejected the request in the Plenary Session, despite opposition support. A municipal spokesperson explained that, for legal reasons, it is no longer possible to establish new Local Autonomous Entities. However, neighborhood representatives argue that their proposal seeks effective and legally viable decentralization that strengthens citizen participation and improves service management without severing ties with Córdoba.
Local Autonomous Entities, regulated by the Andalusian Municipal Demarcation Law of 1997, aim to decentralize and improve the management of services in villages and hamlets far from the main urban centers. These entities are governed by a neighborhood board and a presidency, and they possess their own competencies in areas such as minor construction licenses, paving, public lighting, street cleaning, local fairs and festivals, water supply, and waste collection, among others.
