In Bellver de Cerdanya, the owner of Ca l'Alay has filed an appeal in cassation with the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) over the building’s legal status.

The appeal follows an earlier TSJC Administrative Chamber ruling, issued late last year, which upheld the Pyrenees Territorial Urban Planning Commission’s decision to block the inclusion of Ca l'Alay and another property in Bellver de Cerdanya’s catalogue of farmhouses and rural homes on undeveloped land.

Family sources say the building, owned by Joan Porta, a former Bellver culture councillor and son of former mayor Xavier Porta, “has a licence as an agricultural warehouse”. They also say, “There is no demolition order and, as a warehouse, the construction has had a licence since 2021,” issued by the Local Government Board.

The TSJC has issued two rulings on the attempt to include the building in the catalogue. Work on the property began in 2019. The local council approved its inclusion in July 2020, a move that would have effectively legalised the building in its current state, which the source describes as looking more like a chalet than a warehouse.

The Administrative Chamber ruled in both judgments that the buildings were not reconstructed farmhouses, and rejected appeals from both the council and the family against the Urban Planning Commission’s decision. The magistrates said, “The previous building disappeared and was replaced by the current construction.” The council accepted that ruling, while the family has now lodged a separate appeal in cassation with the same court’s Civil and Criminal Chamber.

According to the Generalitat’s Urban Planning services, in response to a query from Bellver de Cerdanya council, the processing of the urban planning licence for an agricultural warehouse on the Ca l'Alay estate was lawful. However, that authorisation only covers a building of that type, not other uses such as residential, tertiary or equipment.

The case leaves Ca l'Alay in a legal limbo while the higher court considers the new appeal. For more Catalonia-wide local reporting, see News.