Cangas del Narcea challenges the natural park decree before the TSJA

The Cangas del Narcea City Council has challenged before the High Court of Justice of Asturias Decree 29/2026, of May 5, which regulates the composition and operating regime of the Board and the Steering Committee of the Fuentes del Narcea, Degaña e Ibias Natural Park. The Department of Mobility, Environment and Emergency Management has already sent the administrative file of the case to the court and summons potential interested parties to appear in the proceedings. The announcement is published in the Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias number 183, of September 22, 2026, with the reference Code 2026-07629.

The file travels to the TSJA

The Resolution of September 14, 2026, from the Department of Mobility, Environment and Emergency Management, complies with the official letter sent on September 3, 2026, by the Contentious-Administrative Chamber, Single Section, of the High Court of Justice of Asturias. The judicial body communicated the filing of the appeal, which is being processed as ordinary procedure 0000504/2026.

The first point of the resolution orders the transmission of the administrative file corresponding to the appeal to the Asturian high court. The challenged regulation is Decree 29/2026, of May 5, published in the BOPA of May 19, 2026, which establishes the composition and operation of the governing bodies of the protected area.

Nine days to appear

The second section of the resolution summons those listed as interested parties in the file and all natural or legal persons who may be affected by the challenged provision. The deadline to appear and present themselves before the High Court of Justice of Asturias is:

• Nine days, counted from the day following the publication of the resolution in the BOPA.

The summons complies with the provisions of Article 49 of Law 29/1998, of July 13, regulating the Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction. The third point of the resolution orders its publication in the regional gazette, a procedure that has been fulfilled with the insertion in number 183 of September 22, 2026.

An open front in several parks

The challenge by Cangas del Narcea is not an isolated case. The BOPA of August 21, 2026 published a resolution from the same department, dated August 10, 2026, by which the file for ordinary procedure 0000537/2026 was sent to the TSJA, filed by the Saxífraga Association against Decree 41/2026, of May 5, regarding the Board and the Steering Committee of the Las Ubiñas-La Mesa Natural Park.

Both procedures share the same pattern: a resolution from the department referring the file, a nine-day summons, and the full publication of the process in the official bulletin. The temporal coincidence points to a coordinated judicial review of the decrees of May 5, 2026, which reorganized the governance of the Asturian natural parks.

The resolution is signed in Oviedo, on September 14, 2026, by the Technical General Secretary of the department, by delegation of the Minister of Mobility, Environment and Emergency Management in accordance with the Resolution of 05/08/2025 (BOPA of 05/09/2025).

The outcome of ordinary procedure 0000504/2026 will determine whether the governance model designed for the Fuentes del Narcea, Degaña and Ibias Natural Park is maintained or must be corrected. For the affected councils—Cangas del Narcea, Degaña, and Ibias—at stake is who sits on the Board and the Steering Committee and, therefore, who decides on the uses and management of a benchmark protected area in southwestern Asturias. Any interested party who does not appear within the nine-day period will remain outside a litigation that could redefine the distribution of competencies in the park.

Source: Official Bulletin of the Principality of Asturias, no. 183 of September 22, 2026, section I. Principality of Asturias (official reference: Code 2026-07629).