Saturday, October 26, 2013

Moya let off again

Section VII of the High Court has acquitted the former mayor of Bigastro, José Joaquín Moya, of a crime against planning, another of falsifying documents and a third of trespass. The court also acquitted the secretary Antonio Saseta and Antonio María Jesús Ferrer.

The case against the three was in relation to the authorization granted to Repsol to install gas tanks in sector D-6 on a public green area. Approval for the project was first granted in 2005. In 2006, Repsol signed a contract to install two 49,500 litre tanks along with pipelines. In 2007, the site for the tanks was determined and the work was authorised and approved.

By 2010, the problems related to planning in sector D-6 meant that the work on installing the gas tanks was suspended. In 2013, the City Council notified Repsol that the installation of gas tanks was no longer viable.

In the end, the failure of the case came down to the confusion in terminology “areas” and “plots”, “construction” and “compound”. The gas tanks were to be installed in an area not a plot and did not constitute a construction.

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