Old-timers from Montecarmelo filed a complaint against Madrid City Hall for following through on their idea of building a cleanliness corner and a SELUR base in the heart of this neighborhood. The appeal presented to the Contentious-Administrative Court of Madrid is based on the fact that, according to the argument, the Consistorio uses a “tierra quemada” technique to reject the work. That is, try to build these facilities as quickly as possible so that once the work is completed, there is no possibility of turning back until it is finally declared illegal. More than 4,000 residents of this neighborhood have money out of their own pockets to pay for their lawyers and, in their case, their court proceedings.
To understand the context of this request presented by the elders of Montecarmelo, we must return to a previous sentence pronounced by the Colegio Alemán, which is just 60 meters from the place chosen to raise the corner, and which was also issued by the Juzgado de lo Contencioso-Administrativo de Madrid. As reported in April this year, the project has characteristics that can be considered industrial and, therefore, if it were to build schools and houses (as in this case), a study would have to be carried out to understand its environmental impact. But this is not lost.
The Ayuntamiento then appealed and fell before the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM), although it was difficult to appeal because its defense was based on the fact that the activity taking place there was not industrial, while what was public until the project was recognized as such.
Although this sentence has not yet been ratified, the Council has stepped on the accelerator to continue approving procedures according to the criteria of the judge, the past and all parties of the municipal opposition. This is what the Platform of the Affected of the Canton of Montecarmelo, which presented the demand, calls for a tactic of “tierra quemada” in its writings.
The appeal focuses above all on the questioning of the decree that approved the Consistorio on June 3, two months after receiving the judgment on the Litigation, which, against what was then dictated, ratifies the elected place and develops how the project will be. “The contested municipal decree is based on the minimum legal or urban planning basis required by law and is vitiated by the nullity of plenary rights,” they write in the text of the request. He also accuses the Ayuntamiento of having committed an “act that lacks the necessary respect for the judiciary” by acting without waiting for the TSJM to resolve the case.
Best interests of the minor
Among the arguments that allow the judge to take your complaints seriously is the principle of “the best interests of the minor”. In the application presented they explain that in an area of a few meters around which the facility will be located, trucks will enter and leave 24 hours a day, there are three educational centers that accommodate 4,100 children and 200 babies in care.
“The risk of road accidents would increase exponentially,” he said. “In cases like the one that occupies us, in that which is in juego los derechos, the health and physical integrity of minor children, while more must be accredited in an unmistakable manner, that the defense of the ‘Interés Superior del Menor’ presides and guides the actions of the Administraciones Públicas en España”, added.
In any case, the concern of the inhabitants of the Montecarmelo district for this project will be greater than that of those who have children in school. According to a survey by the Análisis e Investigación group carried out among their own neighbors, 94% of them consider that the location chosen for the canton is little or not at all appropriate. Furthermore, consider every 10 years that your installation will “pose a serious problem for the quality of life and the environment of the neighborhood” because of the odors that will be released, “dangerous substances”, “constant noise” and “intense truck traffic”.
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