About thirty people gathered this Saturday morning at the Gola del Fluvià, in Sant Pere Pescador, to demand from the Generalitat and the City Council the closure of the Port Natura complex. The protest took place in the area of the Fluvià estuary, next to the Aiguamolls de l"Empordà Natural Park, called by the entity Group in defense of the Fluvià estuary.
The participants reported that in this space operates a caravan parking lot allegedly without a license and that kayak activities are also organized. They also maintain that since 2021 the owner blocks the passage of cars along the Joncar path with a barrier.
Complaint for the activity and for the closure of access
The spokesperson for Grup Gola, Catalina Victory, assured that in Port Natura a private business has been consolidated since 2021 with parking for motorhomes and trucks, rental of boats such as kayaks and jet skis, in addition to the installation of a bar during the summer. The spokesperson stated that the parking lot "does not have any kind of license" and that the vehicles are parked "without any kind of license or authorization".
"This area has been very damaged" - Catalina Victory, spokesperson for Grup Gola
Victory also maintained that in 2023 the Generalitat issued a closure decree and a sanctioning resolution which, in its opinion, are not being executed. The entity demands the removal of the access barrier and other elements installed in the area, among them concrete barriers, as well as an environmental restoration of the surroundings.
The spokeswoman added that, according to her calculations, 48% of the land belongs to the Generalitat and the Sant Pere Pescador City Council and accused the owner of having privatized the public domain part. She also warned about waste management on the premises and the lack of information about the destination of the greywater from the motorhomes.
The City Council admits a complex situation
The mayor of Sant Pere Pescador, Agustí Badosa, admitted that the situation is complex. The council, he explained, has opened sanctioning files and has even gone as far as to seal the facilities. Even so, he maintains that the owner would have violated those measures and that the case is now in the hands of justice.
Badosa also pointed out that recently this space has been redefined as maritime-terrestrial public domain. That change, she remarked, shifts the competencies to the State, which should apply the coastal law and determine the closure of the activities that are carried out in the area.
A conflict open for more than two decades
The origin of the dispute dates back to 2003, when the lands were definitively declassified as non-developable. Two years later, in 2005, a block of flats that had been built in that area was demolished.
In the face of the complaints, the owner of the land, Víctor Latorre, rejected the accusations and affirmed that they are based on "false assumptions". He also denied that there is a public road in the area and defended that it is a "100% private" property. According to his version, the space functions only as parking linked to the port and there "there is no campsite or associated services".
The mobilization this Saturday once again places the focus on a sensitive enclave on the Alt Empordà coast, with an administrative, urban planning, and judicial conflict still open and without a definitive solution regarding the future of Port Natura.