THE.Doñana Natural Spacecomposed of the national park and the natural park of the said environment, the largest ecological reserve in Europe due to its unique biodiversity, faces many threats and one of them lies in urban planning. This is evident in … A judgment of the Court of Sevillewhich confirms a previous resolution which condemned a man for the construction of a property in said environment without a permit and in a manner inconsistent with the classification of the land.
In detail, the Criminal Court number 11 of Seville declared proven in its initial judgment of 2024 that the accused, with a criminal record that cannot be counted for the purposes of recidivism, acquired on an undetermined date a plot of land of approximately 400 square meters in Isla Mayorwhose General Urban Plan has classified these lands as undeveloped land rural in nature.
Furthermore, according to the initial conviction of Criminal Court Number 11, it is land covered by the Territorial Development Plan of the Doñana Zone (Potad), more precisely in zone B of the perimeter concerned by the said figure, which includes agricultural land whose position in relation to high-value natural spaces places them in a risky position and therefore their uses are specially conditioned.
And as if that were not enough, the lands acquired by the accused “were entirely in the public maritime land domain and its police and servants area,” according to the court.
Knowingly illegal work
Despite all these circumstances, “and even knowing the characteristics of his land, on an undetermined date, but in any case after June 2016, the defendant proceeded with construction on the sub-plot acquired from a two-story building with an area of approximately 50 square meters, the first floor consisting of several horse boxes and the second floor open.; construction which was still in the execution phase on the date of the Civil Guard inspection on May 29, 2019″, details the initial sentence of the Criminal Court number 11.
The court also clarified that the works of the said construction, “In addition to not having received a permit, they were illegal due to their incompatibility with the use of the land. in accordance with the PGOU of the locality” and thanks to the Territorial Development Plan of the Doñana Zone.
Not in vain, andThe Doñana environment is part of the Natura 2000 network being cataloged as a Special Zone of Conservation (ZEC) and Special Bird Protection Zone (ZPS), in addition to being internationally recognized as a Biosphere Reserve.
Its conservation as a true jewel of nature actually constitutes a whole public and political debate, due to threats such as drought in the context of climate change or overexploitation of aquifers.
It is precisely for this reason that the sentence of the Criminal Court number 11 of Seville condemns this man to one and a half years in prison for an offense against land planning, a fine of 1,440 euros and to undertake and pay the demolition of what was builtafter the cessation and sealing of the work had already been ordered in February 2020.
Faced with this, the person responsible for said construction filed a complaintappeal to the court of Sevilledemanding the revocation of his sentence. In detail, he alleged that the case would be influenced by “the existence of the building more than five years old at the start of the police actions, with which it is documented that on the applicant’s land there is a construction older than the five-year statute of limitations for the alleged criminal action.”
The Court excludes the limitation period for the offense by confirming that the work began after June 2016 and was detected in 2019
But the seventh section of the Provincial Court, in a judgment rendered on September 22, completely rejected his appeal and fully upheld the original sentencing resolution of Criminal Court Number 11.
According to the seventh section of the Court, the investigations of the Civil Guard and the images collected from the Cartographic Institute of the Junta de Andalucía clearly reflect that although there was already “a small building at the entrance to the land built before 2016; (…) The building subject to the actions started after June 2016 As of April 2019, it was not completed; That is to say, not all construction acts were completed.
“In this sense, the complaint presented by the Prosecutor’s Office was presented in October 2019 and on the 30th of this month the corresponding preliminary procedure was opened, agreeing to hear the statement of the accused person,” he told the Court, highlighting the “procedural acts interrupting the prescription.”
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