Green light for environmental measures in the Local Road Plan of the Girona counties

The Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition has issued a favorable strategic environmental statement for the Local Roads Plan for the Girona regions (PCLCG), promoted by the Provincial Council of Girona. The resolution, signed by the Director General of Environmental Policies and Natural Environment, Marc Vilahur Chiaraviglio, is published in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya no. 9772, of October 14, 2026, with the reference CVE-DOGC-A-26279086-2026. The plan leaves 45 roads as integrable into the local road network, out of the 218 initially analyzed.

Resolution TER/4993/2024, of October 14 (exp. OTAAGI20200079), closes the ordinary strategic environmental assessment procedure of the plan. The document states that the Provincial Council of Girona requested the start of the processing on May 6, 2020, and that the Territorial Office of Environmental Action and Assessment in Girona issued the scoping document on August 3, 2020.

The Plenary of the Provincial Council of Girona initially approved the plan on February 15, 2022, and provisionally on June 18, 2024. The plan and the strategic environmental study were submitted for public consultation for 45 days, with announcements in DOGC no. 8613, of February 24, 2022, and in the Official Gazette of the Province of Girona no. 36, of February 22, 2022. The legal basis is Law 21/2013, of December 9, on environmental assessment, and Law 6/2009, of April 28.

A plan to incorporate municipal roads into the local network

The PCLCG, in accordance with the new road layout of Catalonia, must identify the routes that meet the minimum requirements to be part of the local network and which are currently municipal without being considered roads. Minimum platform width criteria have been set according to the average daily traffic (ADT):

• ADT lower than 500 vehicles: 5 meters.
• ADT between 500 and 1,000 vehicles: 5.5 meters.
• ADT higher than 1,000 vehicles: 6 meters (5.5 meters in rugged terrain).

Roads that do not reach these widths must be conditioned before incorporation. The criteria have been applied together with Article 4 of the General Road Regulations (Decree 293/2003, of November 18) and with urban and environmental criteria arising from the public exhibition.

From 218 analyzed roads to 45 integrable

The initial analysis covered 218 paved roads, with a total length of 712.16 km. The promoter studied three alternatives:

• Alternative 0: maintain the current state, without any integration.
• Alternative 1: integrate 216 roads, 700.14 km, with 17 roads affecting special environmental protection zones.
• Alternative 2: integrate 61 roads, 193.43 km, with 14 roads within the Natura 2000 network.

The promoter chose alternative 2 because it involved the lowest environmental impact. The environmental assessment has further reduced the proposal: the final result is 45 integrable paths, totaling 134.72 km. The remainder of the 218 analyzed paths are not integrable as roads within the local road network.

Excluded paths and conditions for projects

The assessment has removed 10 paths from the plan, totaling 36.8 km, for the conservation of environmental values and ecological connectivity. Among those excluded are:

• 1.07.1 Path from Vilamaniscle to Rabós (4.9 km).
• 1.25.1 Path from Castelló d’Empúries to Palau-saverdera (4.9 km).
• 1.28.1 Path from Roses to cala Montjoi (6.8 km).
• 1.54.1 Path from Sant Miquel de Fluvià to Siurana (4.6 km).
• 2.04.1 Path from Bellcaire d’Empordà to la Tallada d’Empordà (3.4 km).
• 4.02.1 Path from Mallol to Hostalets d’en Bas.

Three other paths have been declared non-integrable based on non-environmental criteria: 2.05.1 from Sant Llorenç de les Arenes to Foixà, 2.29.1 from the C-31 to Mas Pinell, and 3.02.1 from the la Molina ski station to Molina. In contrast, 11 paths that cross sensitive areas remain integrable with mitigation measures, and two more were incorporated after consultations: 2.56.1 from Bellcaire to Tor and 1.13.1 from Peralada to Cabanes.

The resolution imposes conditions on future projects:

• Paths 1.23.1 from Castelló d’Empúries to Marzà and 5.05.1 from Sant Jordi Desvalls to Flaçà must undergo a simplified environmental impact assessment due to possible effects on the Natura 2000 network.
• Path 2.56.1 from Bellcaire d’Empordà to Tor must also undergo this assessment, including an analysis of impacts on the bearded vulture and the Eurasian sparrowhawk.
• The projects for eleven paths must justify the environmental conditions set in the strategic environmental study.

Validity and effects

The strategic environmental declaration loses its validity if, once published in the DOGC, the plan is not approved within a maximum period of two years. No appeal can be filed against the resolution, without prejudice to those that may be appropriate against the general provision or the act of approval of the plan. The resolution must be notified to the Diputació de Girona and published in the DOGC and on the department’s website.

The environmental pronouncement sets the rules of the game for the local road network of the Girona regions: it conditions which municipal paths can become Provincial Council roads and mandates the incorporation of fauna, landscape, and connectivity measures in future works. For the affected municipalities, the timeline is clear: if the plan is not definitively approved within two years of publication, the declaration will become void.

Source: Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya, no. 9772, October 14, 2026, Announcements (Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition) (official reference: CVE-DOGC-A-26279086-2026).