Environmental green light for the Villaviudas III land consolidation in Palencia

The Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Environment, and Environmental Policy of the Regional Government of Castilla y León has issued a favorable environmental impact statement for the land consolidation project in the Villaviudas III area (Palencia), unlocking its execution. The resolution is published in the Official Gazette of Castilla y León (BOCYL) No. 190, dated September 30, 2026, with reference BOCYL-D-30092026-190-23 and file EIAO/2024/PA/014. The text, signed in Valladolid on September 22, 2026, by Minister Joaquín Antonio Pino, provides a favorable report on the project “for environmental purposes only,” conditional upon compliance with the protective measures detailed therein.

The regulation articulating this is Order AGR/964/2026, of September 22, issued under Law 21/2013, of December 9, on environmental assessment, and the consolidated text of the Environmental Prevention Law of Castilla y León (Legislative Decree 1/2015, of November 12). The promoter is the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Rural Development itself, through the General Directorate of Rural Development, and the body that proposed the statement was the Environmental, Urbanism, and Territorial Planning Council of Castilla y León. The authority to sign it corresponds to the Ministry of Agriculture following Decree 2/2026, of June 13, on the restructuring of Regional Ministries.

An operation covering 4,443 hectares of the Palentine Cerrato

The perimeter encompasses the entire municipality of Villaviudas, parts of polygons 501 and 522 of Baltanás, and polygons 534, 535, 536, and 537 of Torquemada, in the Cerrato Palentino region, in the south of the province of Palencia. The figures included in the annex are as follows:

• Requested area: 4,463.88 hectares.
• Rainfed area: 3,866.88 hectares; irrigated area: 597 hectares.
• Excluded area: 20.43 hectares; consolidatable area: 4,443.94 hectares.
• Road network: 94,993 meters of main roads, 18,962 meters of secondary roads, and 5,041 meters of bypass roads.
• Drainage network: conditioning of 10,304 meters, creation of 7,372 meters, and removal of 11,922 meters.

The environmental impact study analyzed three scenarios, and the chosen alternative was “Alternative 2” or the eco-compatible one, aimed at balancing agricultural productivity with environmental conservation.

Irrigation modernization and regulation pond

The consolidation is justified, according to the order, as the most appropriate method to modernize existing irrigation systems, with a high-altitude storage pond that allows for the irrigation of the entire floodplain of the Pisuerga River as it passes through the three municipalities. The pond is located in the district of Valdecete, north of Villaviudas, with a capacity of 0.24 hm³ and a minimum regulation capacity of 212,969.15 m³, distributed as follows:

• Villaviudas: 178,366.12 m³.
• Baltanás: 1,070.20 m³.
• Torquemada: 33,532.83 m³.

Filling will be carried out via a pumping station on the Pisuerga River powered by a photovoltaic installation, and the water will be distributed by gravity through the irrigation network. The declaration requires studying a new location for the pond due to its proximity to a wind farm, and placing the pumping station outside the lands of the SPA (ES4140082) “Riberas del Río Pisuerga y afluentes”.

Environmental conditions and heritage precautions

The project overlaps territorially with the aforementioned SPA and with 32 livestock routes in Villaviudas and 1 in Torquemada, in addition to six habitats of community interest, including the priority HIC 1520* “Gypsophilous grasslands (Gypsophiletalia)”. The declaration concludes that it will not cause harm to the integrity of the Natura 2000 Network if the imposed conditions are applied, which include:

• Excluding 17 water abstractions from the “Páramo de Esgueva y Cerrato” groundwater body.
• Not using plots from polygons 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 22, and 23 of Villaviudas as aggregate borrow pits.
• Starting drainage works outside the sensitive period for fauna, from March to June.
• Maintaining the surface of non-state forest land and conserving boundaries, hedges, and native trees.
• Marking archaeological sites and applying archaeological control on livestock routes and within a 25-meter strip on each side.
• Limiting actions at the new site in polygon 4, plots 54 and 55, of Villaviudas to the existing road network.

Processing without allegations and four-year validity

The public information period opened with an announcement published in BOCYL no. 204, dated October 18, 2024, and was displayed on the notice boards of the town halls of Villaviudas, Baltanás, and Torquemada, without any allegations being received. The promoter requested the start of the ordinary evaluation on January 19, 2026. Reports were issued by the Duero Hydrographic Confederation, the Civil Protection and Emergencies Agency, the Territorial Environment Service of Palencia, and the Territorial Culture, Tourism and Sport Service of Palencia; they were not issued by the Government Sub-delegation in Palencia, the Territorial Mobility and Digital Transformation Service, the Provincial Council of Palencia, nor Ecologistas en Acción Castilla y León. The declaration will lose its validity if execution does not begin within four years, and the promoter must submit an annual environmental monitoring report.

The publication of this order clears the main pending environmental procedure and allows progress toward the concentration agreement, a decisive step for the hundreds of agricultural owners in the area, who will see their plots reorganized and will have modernized irrigation. The declaration does not authorize the works on its own: they remain subject to the established environmental conditions and other sectoral authorizations.

Source: Official Gazette of Castilla y León, no. 190, dated September 30, 2026, section I.D Other Provisions, pages 123-144 (official reference: BOCYL-D-30092026-190-23).