Barcelona City Council on Tuesday approved a motion urging the municipal government to revive planning protection for La Ponderosa, the agricultural fields in Vallbona. The vote follows concern that the land could be used for a future expansion of Agbar's drinking-water treatment plant in nearby Trinitat.

For Vallbona residents, the decision puts political backing behind keeping the fields in agricultural use, although the council has not committed to restoring the earlier AgroVallbona planning proposal. The Ajuntament, Barcelona's city council, has the final authority over whether the site can host the proposed infrastructure.

“La Ponderosa is not the appropriate location for this infrastructure.”Laia Bonet, Barcelona's First Deputy Mayor

Bonet told the council's urban-planning commission that the city government had made its position clear to the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), the public body responsible for water planning, the Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB), the metropolitan authority, and the Generalitat, Catalonia's regional government.

She said officials were working with those bodies to identify alternative locations without compromising what she described as a strategic space.

Motion calls for AgroVallbona plan to return

The Barcelona en Comú motion called for the return of AgroVallbona, a 2023 proposal by then mayors Ada Colau of Barcelona and Laura Campos of Montcada i Reixac. The plan proposed changing the land's planning designation from developable land to rural land, which would prevent construction on fields where tomatoes and lettuce are grown.

The motion passed with support from Barcelona en Comú, Junts per Barcelona and Esquerra Republicana. The governing PSC group abstained, while the PP and Vox voted against.

  • November 2024: Diari ARA reported that Aigües de Barcelona, known as Agbar, bought the land after it had been owned by Sareb, Spain's state-backed asset-management company.
  • 2023: the AgroVallbona proposal sought to preserve La Ponderosa as agricultural land.
  • Tuesday, 15 September: councillors backed a motion asking the city government to revive that proposal.

Bonet said the circumstances had changed since 2023, including the transfer of ownership. Agbar operates the existing drinking-water treatment plant in Trinitat, and the land is currently designated for community facilities or projects of citywide or metropolitan interest.

Residents seek a role in water-management decisions

Zaida Palet of the Vallbona Viu neighbourhood association said residents feared another large project with no benefit for the area. She criticised the lack of what she described as a genuine public-participation process in metropolitan water-management decisions.

“We are worried that the opportunity for growth in Vallbona will be seized by Agbar with this move.”Sergi Marchal, Vallbona resident

Junts councillor Carme Lleó called for transparency over water-management decisions. Esquerra councillor Eva Baró argued that the planning protection should be restored so that the site's future was not determined by changes in ownership.

The approved motion calls on the municipal government to revive AgroVallbona. Residents seeking to raise concerns about the proposal have been represented in the debate by the Vallbona Viu association and through councillors at Barcelona City Council.

Reported by en.ara.cat, Diari ARA.

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