Costa Blanca
Parcent local government questioned in court over controversial development plans
By m.p. - Nov 3, 2009 - 1:23 PM
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The Mayor and councillors of Parcent - EFE
A promoter has accused them of obstructing approval for one of the three developments later turned down by the Generalitat
The Mayor of Parcent, Máximo Revilla, and the four councillors from his governing team at the Town Hall were in court this Monday for questioning on a complaint brought by the promoter of a new development which was planned for the area. It, with two other PAI, was approved by the previous Partido Popular local government, but was recently turned down by the regional government over what was seen as a detrimental effect on the environment.
The three PAI for 1,800 new properties would have increased the local population ten-fold and have been the subject of many protests locally for the past four years.
The complaint by Terras de l’Horta S.L. accuses the current council members and the municipal secretary of perversion of the course of justice in allegedly obstructing approval for their project. El País notes that when their party, the CDP, came into power after the last municipal elections the new local government asked for the documentation on the three PAI, passed on to the Generalitat by their predecessors, to be returned to them for revision. Their request meant the approval process could go no further for the moment and, in the event, the regional government issued a negative environmental report for the three PAI last month.
The local government’s spokesman, Joan Carles Poquet, told El País that all those accused in the case declined to answer any of the questions put by the promoter’s lawyer at the Dénia court on Monday, because, he said, ‘the company has brought criminal proceedings in an attempt to pressure and coerce the corporation and the people’ of Parcent.
Speaking after he entered court on Monday, the Mayor told EFE that ‘We did what we had to do to defend the interests of the village’.