The ruling rejects the claims of the company Deborja S.A., which requested a compensation of 61.651.947 €.
Calpe Town Council has received the judgement of the High Court of Justice in the appeal lodged by the company Deborja S.A. for the occupation of land in the area of Las Salinas with the installation of elements such as signposts with explanatory signs, litter bins, benches, a walkway and a wooden screen to allow birdwatching.
The ruling establishes that the Town Hall must remove these elements as they are installed on privately owned rural land, although it also rejects that the Consistory must compensate Deborja S.A. with 61,651,947 euros as requested by the company.
The appeal was brought against the Calpe Town Council, the Provincial Coastal Service of Alicante and the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition on the grounds that the Salinas, which are privately owned, were occupied for public uses and services, including the drainage and pumping of seawater into the lagoon.
The Salinas de Calpe are included in the catalogue of Wetlands of the Valencian Community and the pipeline for pumping water from the sea, which is necessary to maintain the water level of the site, was built underneath Luxemburgo Street, not over the Salinas or on land owned by the company.
The judgement partially upholds the appeal, considering that there is occupation due to the installation by Calpe Town Council of a wooden screen that hides the bird watcher from the lagoon, a vertical signpost, an explanatory sign, a litter bin, a bench and a wooden walkway. The City Council was ordered to cease this activity and to remove these elements and pay the amount for the time that these elements had occupied the rural land.
However, the sentence rejects the exorbitant compensation claims of the company and considers that there is no other type of occupation of the plots as Deborja S.A. claimed. The sentence is not final and can be appealed in cassation before the 3rd Chamber of the Supreme Court or before the Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community.
The Mayoress, Ana Sala, expressed her satisfaction with the result of the sentence and pointed out that "our interest will always be to protect the wetland of Las Salinas, in compliance with the sentence we will compensate the owners, but we will always protect the wetland".