Cantabria declares the expropriation of land for the urbanization of Mijarojos in Cartes as urgent

The Governing Council of Cantabria has declared the urgent occupation of the assets and rights necessary to execute the urbanization project for El Rodil Street and Camino del Economato, in Mijarojos (Cartes). The decision is formalized in Decree 65/2026, dated September 17, published in the Official Gazette of Cantabria (BOC) No. 184, dated September 24, 2026, within section 5 of Compulsory Expropriation (official reference CVE-2026-7362). The measure affects three plots in the municipality and responds to the serious and imminent risk that the current state of the roads poses to road and pedestrian safety.

The file was processed by the City Council of Cartes, which approved, via mayoral resolution on July 6, 2026, the declaration of public utility and the necessity of occupying the land, along with the list of assets and rights to be occupied and the identification of the cadastral owners and affected areas. Subsequently, a public information period of fifteen business days was opened, and individualized notifications were sent to the interested parties; some allegations submitted within the deadline were resolved by mayoral resolution on August 18, 2026.

The project has an immediate precedent: Mayoral Resolution number 2026-0577, dated August 18, 2026, which definitively approved the works and expropriation project (file 763/2026) and ordered the file to be sent to the Governing Council to declare the occupation urgent. That resolution was published in BOC No. 164, dated August 26, 2026 (CVE-2026-6691), and the work is included in the municipal Investment Plan for the 2025-2029 period.

The affected lands and compensation

The annex of the decree details the three properties whose occupation is declared urgent, including their cadastral references, location, and areas:

• 39018A004000060000ZX: Polygon 4, plot 6, Puente Aragón; 4,293 square meters of plot and 111 square meters to be expropriated.
• 2993003VN1929S0001DA: PB Mijarojos 30 (A); 756 square meters of plot and 287 square meters to be expropriated.
• 2993006VN1929S0001JA: PB Mijarojos 19; 2,049 square meters of plot and 97 square meters to be expropriated.

In total, the area to be expropriated amounts to 495 square meters. The file incorporates the appropriate credit retention for the payment of compensation, in the amount of 13,862.10 euros.

The reasons for the urgency

The decree justifies the urgent occupation based on the severe deterioration of the asphalt pavement on El Rodil Street, featuring potholes, cracks, and deformations, the total absence of road markings, and the non-existence of sidewalks for most of the road, which forces pedestrians to walk on the roadway sharing space with vehicles. To this is added high traffic on a road of insufficient width for two vehicles to pass safely.

The declaration further invokes the non-compliance with several technical standards:

• Order FOM/273/2016, of February 19, which sets a minimum lane width of 3.00 meters and a minimum shoulder of 0.50 meters.
• Order VIV/561/2010, of February 1, whose Article 5 requires a clear passage width of 1.80 meters on the accessible pedestrian route.
• Royal Decree 513/2017, of May 22, which establishes for firefighter access roads a minimum clear width of 3.50 meters, a clear height of 4.50 meters, and a load-bearing capacity of 20 tons.
• Royal Decree 1890/2008, of November 14, which requires a minimum uniformity of 0.40 for urban lighting, complemented by the UNE-EN 13201 standard.

The text warns that the current configuration of the road severely hinders the access of firefighters and ambulances, especially at the eastern end where the expropriations are located, and considers that this constitutes a direct risk to residents, with the presence of homes inhabited by elderly people and the risk of forest fires during the summer season.

Legal Framework and Processing

The declaration is based on Article 52 of the current Compulsory Expropriation Law, of December 16, 1954, and responds to public competencies entrusted to the local Administration by Article 25 of Law 7/1985, of April 2, regulating the Bases of Local Regime. The decree was approved upon the proposal of the Counselor of Presidency, Justice, Security, and Administrative Simplification, María Isabel Urrutia de los Mozos, following deliberation by the Government of Cantabria in its meeting on September 17, 2026, and is signed in Santander by the president, María José Saénz de Buruaga Gómez.

The regulation concludes that the procedures followed comply with the law and that the agreements of the Cartes City Council were adopted with the proper legal formalities.

The declared urgency shortens the deadlines and allows for the occupation of the land before the fair price is determined and paid, such that the owners of the three properties will see the occupation materialized without waiting for the resolution of the expropriation file. For the residents of Mijarojos, the decree unlocks a project that was intended to correct security and accessibility deficiencies identified as serious by the regional Government itself.

Source: Official Gazette of Cantabria, no. 184, of September 24, 2026, section 5. Compulsory Expropriation, pages 46586-46589 (official reference: CVE-2026-7362).