The final approval of the PGOU in Prado del Rey has set aside two initiatives that had been the subject of intense debate and rejection by environmental groups. These include a proposal for a golf course and the construction of a housing development in the Cruce area, located within the Los Alcornocales Natural Park.
“"Twenty years have been lost due to the obstinacy of the City Council and the Junta de Andalucía in subjecting the PGOU to the interests of urban speculators."
The environmental organization has expressed its satisfaction with this decision, recalling that the first PGOU approved in 2008 was annulled by the High Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) following an appeal filed by them. That plan was described as a “compendium of illegalities” for including unjustified expansion, a golf course without water resources, and the urbanization of protected land.
Subsequent attempts to approve the same PGOU in 2009 and 2010 were also annulled by the TSJA. When a new plan began processing in 2016, the organization warned about the lack of a mandatory Strategic Environmental Assessment (EAE) and growth that violated the Andalusian Territorial Planning Plan (POTA). These suggestions were eventually accepted, ensuring the viability of the current document.
“"The determined and reasoned action of Ecologistas en Acción, by presenting allegations and appealing the previous PGOU, prevented it, which has brought enormous benefit to this town and to the environment."
However, the organization has criticized that the new urban regulations include a “more impactful and unnecessary” action, such as the expansion of the La Ventilla industrial park, with 103,245 square meters of new industrial land. This expansion will be located in an area of centuries-old olive groves with difficult access, an operation that, according to the collective, is explained by the acquisition of land by a company from the leather sector in Ubrique with the promise of a large factory.
