|
Jacqui Cotterill addresses MEPs
E nvoys from a tiny Costa Blanca community have appealed to the European Parliament to help stop the "desecration" of massive development. The village of Parcent is threatened with three plans - or PAIs - to build 1,800 new homes on unspoilt countryside in the Val de Pop. And councillors opposing the proposed concrete jungle have found themselves branded "suspected criminals" after summonses were issued by developers. In an emotional appeal, Parcent's deputy mayor Jacqui Cotterill told the parliament's petitions committee in Brussels on Wednesday the plans breached European laws and action was needed to scrap them. During the recent general election campaign, Partido Popular promised it would listen to the will of the people. However, Valencia continues to refuse to either halt the development, or return the plans to Parcent for them to be reviewed.
PROTEST
Jacqui first spoke in Brussels in November 2006 as president of the protest group Veins de Parcent - formed after plans were provisionally approved by the previous town hall regime. She said returned as an elected councillor - backed by Veins - having won an election campaign last year "emphasising what we believe would be the desecration of our environment and way of life." And she said it was the current administration's responsibility to insure the legality of the three projects still awaiting final approval by the Valencian Regional Government. Jacqui said "deficiencies" included the lack of environmental impact reports and water reports when the plans were submitted, a breach of European Union directives. However, she said not only was the request for the return of the plans to the town hall refused, it was issued with two administrative summons by promoters of two of the projects and a criminal summons from Terras de L'horta SL, the largest developer, which called for the arrest of the mayor, four councillors and the secretary.
LEAK
"This was leaked to the press, resulting in our children asking if we were going to jail, which as elected representatives you can imagine, was shocking and intimidating, which we suspect was its intention," Jacqui told the meeting. "Thus, in acting to defend European legislation within our democratic mandate, we find ourselves publicly labelled and summonsed as suspected criminals." She said Terras was the same company awarded the contract to build 1,496 homes without plans being put out to public tender - the same breach of EU directives on public procurement that have seen Spain sent to the European Tribunal of Justice over the Valencian 'land grab' laws. "We have also been threatened by the construction companies with further action for compensation which could bankrupt Parcent, despite the plans being proposed and approved without the reports required by law and without informing the affected property owners," Jacqui added. "Thus we now face the absurd situation of going ahead with plans which we believe breach EU law, or facing court cases as a result of our actions to defend European legislation and our democratic rights."
REJECT
Jacqui said the responsibility to reject the three plans passed in the last hours of the infamous LRAU land law lay with Valencia. She said the regional water authority, and both the national and regional ombudsman opposed the plans. "However our repeated attempts to meet with the Minister responsible have been ignored and the recent refusal to return the documentation leads us to believe that the regional government is still capable of definitively approving the PAIs." And Jacqui said in a written statement the European Commission underlined that elected representatives of member states at any level of government had a responsibility to prevent "the execution of acts which are not in conformity with Community law." She requested MEPs urgently use all their force to support Parcent Town Hall in insuring the law was upheld and safeguard the environment and the rights of the community.
BLACK
"A year has passed since the committee visited Parcent and heard the heartfelt testimony of its people. Since then they have made their wishes clear at the ballot box but we are still living under the black cloud of these developments," said Jacqui. "It is time the people's vice was listened to, that we are freed from threats and intimidation, that the law is respected and those invalid plans are rejected by the Generalitat Valenciana so Parcent can start to plan a future that respects its citizens, their rights, the countryside and the heritage of our village. "The petitions committee's visit to Parcent and its tireless effort has brought us all hope and made the European Parliament's work personally relevant to its citizens." She added: "We not look to you for protection and justice and remain confident that the support of the petitions committee, Parliament and European commission will prevent an extreme environmental, social and legal injustice being perpetrated in Parcent."
|
