The Provincial Council delays the justification of roads and greenways by six months

The Provincial Council of Soria has extended the deadline to justify the works for the 2025 call for the conservation and improvement of roads and greenways from October 15, 2026, to April 15, 2027. This is done through the modification of clause 12 of the call, unanimously agreed upon by the Local Government Board and published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Soria no. 120, corresponding to Monday, October 19, 2026, in the Local Administration section (reference BOPSO-120-19102026).

The origin of the delay

The call was resolved by the Government Board on October 20, 2025. Its clause 12, dedicated to justification and payment, required that the works be justified before October 15, 2026, via certification from the municipal secretary according to the model in ANNEX III.

According to the published agreement, during the last month, various city councils contacted the Local Cooperation Service to warn of the impossibility of meeting that deadline. The alleged causes are external to municipal activity:

• Adverse weather conditions.
• The shortage of contractors capable of executing all committed works within the set deadlines.
• Administrative difficulties in many city councils derived from changes in municipal secretariats.

The councils also expressed their intention to execute the works if they were granted a longer justification period.

Favorable report and the secretary’s objection

The Head of the Local Cooperation Service issued a report on September 23, 2026, in which he considered that, with a six-month extension, the works could be executed and justified without problem.

The secretary of the corporation expressed his disagreement with that report. In his view, the requirement of art. 70.1 of the General Grants Regulations is not met, which demands that the extension does not prejudice the rights of third parties: as this was a competitive call, there were entities whose requests were rejected and others, the majority, who did comply with the granted deadlines.

The members of the Government Board defended the extension, pointing out that there are few contractors for this type of work in the province and that the delays are not attributable to the city councils. They considered it unreasonable for a municipality to stop receiving aid due to a matter beyond its control, therefore supporting the report from the Local Cooperation Service.

What changes for the city councils

The agreement contains two points:

• The modification of clause 12, which now sets the justification of the works before April 15, 2027.
• The publication of the agreement in the Official Gazette of the Province of Soria.

The document appears signed in Soria on October 14, 2026, by the 1st Vice President, Mª José Jiménez Lasheras, and is published on pages 3532 and 3533 of the provincial bulletin.

The extension grants an additional six months to the beneficiary city councils that have not yet executed the works, so that they may certify them and collect the grant without losing it due to unforeseen circumstances. The agreement arrives, however, with a formal objection from the secretary regarding the rights of the entities that were left out of the call, a point that the document expressly records.

Source: Official Bulletin of the Province of Soria, no. 120, October 19, 2026, Local Administration, pp. 3532-3533 (official reference: BOPSO-120-19102026).