Sant Cugat del Vallès City Council

April-2024

The purpose of this investigation has been to analyze a possible preferential treatment by the Sant Cugat del Vallès City Council towards a real estate developer, following the construction of a housing development in the Can Mates sector. During the construction works, carried out in three phases, the technical services found irregularities regarding the climatic galleries of the homes and, in this regard, the complaint filed warned about the fact that, given the irregularities exposed, the City Council had not initiated a procedure for the protection of urban planning legality against aforementioned developer. This Office considers it proven that it was the differences in criteria between the municipal technical and legal services, when assessing the irregularities affecting the climatic galleries, that caused a delay in the decision-making regarding the processing of a procedure for the protection of urban planning legality. Subsequently, once the excess building area in the first two phases of the development resulting from the controversy described above was ascertained, the Sant Cugat del Vallès City Council agreed to initiate aforementioned proceedings, coinciding with the start of the investigative action by this Office. Given the facts, and ruling out possible preferential treatment, this Office agreed to close the investigative action, and requested that the Sant Cugat City Council, once completed, report on the outcome of the procedure for the protection of urban planning legality initiated.