Technical report dated 15/3/2022

Translation of Technical report dated 15/3/2022

Notes of EPRA meeting 25.4.22 with Partaloa Mayor, Councillor and Secretary, and Almeria Technician

Present:

Andreas, Almeria Technician
Maria, Partaloa Mayor
Alicia, Partaloa Secretary
Steve Conroy, Partaloa Councillor

Steve Tucker, EPRA
Sam Weller, EPRA
Dave Lavelle, EPRA
Maura Hillen, interpreting

Andreas explained:

1. The initial stage of the application simply deals with the question “is the proposed site suitable?”. In this context “suitable” means is the proposal legal and is the land classified as “non-urbanizable” land on which “agricultural or agricultural-related” activities can take place. The answer to the question in this case is “yes”, and that is what the town hall technician has reported to Partaloa council. The Pleno now has to vote to approve the application, and they will do so, however much any or all of them disapprove of the application; they’re not voting on whether they approve the application itself, just that the site meets the criteria that they are legally allowed to apply at this stage of the planning application.

2. The next step in the process is for the applicant to submit a detailed application, called a Proyecto de Actuacion describing the project in detail. The Junta is then obliged to prepare an environmental impact report called a Calificacion Ambiental in relation to the project. After this stage the Junta will make a decision to green light the project or not. This phase is controlled by the Junta de Andalucia. The town hall technician said that, even in the most straightforward of cases, and this is not a straightforward case, it would be 5 to 6 months before JdA makes a decision.

3. When they receive the detailed application, JdA will send a technician out to survey the site, and to consider all aspects: so environmental, access, proximity to housing. The technician reports back to JdA, who may request further information/clarification from the applicant. The town hall technician believed that the applicant would have a difficult job satisfying all JdA’s requirements for approval, but that’s just his opinion.

4. All the objections/allegations made to date by local residents and the EPRA, have not been submitted to the Junta de Andalucia. According to the town hall technician only Partaloa Town Hall has an obligation to respond to those objections/allegations at this phase.

5. If JdA gives approval to the detailed application, they will publish their approval on their official bulletin, the BOJA, and residents and the EPRA then have a maximum of 20 days to make objections/allegations/representations to JdA about the criteria they have applied to reach their decision.

6. According to the report prepared by the technician, he has seen all the objections/allegations made by local residents and all objections had been rejected based on his technical responses relevant to this phase of the project and statements made by the promoter. However, his report, does not, anywhere, refer to having seen the objections prepared by Ronnie Howley for the EPRA, even though we presented it to Partaloa within the required time and have evidence that we did so. The technician said that all the residents’ objections were passed to the applicant for resolution; the applicant’s answers to the access queries were that no vehicles over 3,500 kg would access the site from the south, either in the construction stage or during operations – all access to the site would be from the north, and via the local Ramblas.

7. The technician stated that the rule about this type of development only being permitted if there are no houses nearby is technically specific; there must be no “urban nucleus” within 1 km of the site. In this mu-nicipality, only Partaloa village has the status of an “urban nucleus” – all the houses at Lentisco, Cerro Cruz, La Cañada, Cerro Gordo and Piedra Amarilla are built on “non-urban” land, and are not, therefore, capable of being considered “urban nucleii”. Again, the technician gave his personal opinion that the proximity of “non-urban” houses would be considered by JdA, and they would view those houses as a factor.