The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco) and the Junta de Andalucía have agreed to urge the High Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) to take measures against the political deadlock at the Carboneras City Council (Almería) regarding the review of the construction license for the El Algarrobico hotel. Despite the ultimate goal of demolishing the property, both administrations have shown discrepancies in their proposed legal paths and the current status of the expropriation procedure initiated by the central government.
During the ninth online meeting of the Joint Commission for the monitoring of the protocol to recover this protected area in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, regional and state representatives noted the lack of progress following the municipal plenary session of the Carboneras City Council held on June 17. In that session, five councilors from the socialist group and two non-attached councilors voted to postpone the declaration of nullity of the urban planning license, directly contravening judicial and organic directives.
Given this scenario, the Junta de Andalucía has reported that its legal services were tasked last week with requesting the TSJA to directly decree the nullity of the license. The regional executive considers that the repeated non-compliance and excessive delays by the Carboneras council make it entirely necessary to remove the City Council from the process, allowing the High Court to assume the execution of the sentence to advance towards the site's restoration.
For its part, Miteco has chosen to exhaust the coercive mechanisms provided for in legislation before requesting such subsidiary execution. The state department communicated that it registered a written submission to the court on Monday to demand that the City Council be required to submit the minutes of the plenary session within 48 hours and to convene a new plenary session within 72 hours. Furthermore, it requested that the local corporation be warned of the imposition of coercive fines and the deduction of testimony to pursue potential criminal responsibilities.
The main disagreement between the two parties concerns the hotel's expropriation file. The Junta asserted in its statement that the ministry confirmed the suspension of this procedure until the review of the municipal license is completed. Based on this premise, the Andalusian administration defended its proposal for direct judicial annulment as the only viable option currently, believing the situation requires action without further delay. However, Miteco rejected this claim in a subsequent press release, emphasizing that expropriation remains a fully valid option, is proceeding within the established legal framework, and has not been discarded as a tool for site recovery. It added that it would employ all necessary legal tools to provide full guarantees.
Both administrations ratified the full validity of the general collaboration protocol signed in 2011. The Junta urged the State to guarantee the necessary budgetary provision to cover the substantial costs of the future demolition, justifying its involvement in the expropriation process after six months without news. Both parties agreed to maintain fluid contact and scheduled a new follow-up meeting once the municipal license is formally annulled.
The Junta has defended its commitment to see this through and end, after two decades, "one of the most flagrant urban planning outrages on the national scene." In this context, regional officials highlighted that the Andalusian government has intervened in the four open proceedings concerning this matter: the judicial procedure itself, the review of the license, the modification of municipal planning, and the expropriation process initiated by the Spanish Government. Regarding the Junta's involvement in the latter, they reminded the Ministry officials and other central administration representatives that it became "essential after six months" without the Junta receiving "any information" about it from Miteco. The Junta urged the State to comply with the protocol clauses, follow joint action lines, and establish the necessary budget for demolition costs.
For the Junta de Andalucía, participants included the Vice-counselor of Sustainability and Environment, Sergio Arjona; the Vice-counselor of Development, Mario Muñoz-Atanet; the Secretary General for Environment, María López Sanchís; the Director General of Planning, José Andrés Moreno Gaviño; the Director General of Environmental Sustainability, Carmen Jiménez Parrado; along with technicians and legal advisors. Representing the General State Administration were the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán; the Director General of the Coast and the Sea, Ana María Oñoro; and other ministry officials.
