Madrid removes a protected garden in Salamanca from its catalog and saves a palm tree

The Governing Council of the Community of Madrid has definitively approved, by agreement dated September 2, 2026, the Specific Modification of the General Urban Development Plan (PGOU) of Madrid for the plot located at number 17 Pintor Moreno Carbonero Street, in the Salamanca district. The decision, published in the Official Gazette of the Community of Madrid number 215 on September 9, 2026, removes the level 1 protected garden from the catalog and instead protects a specimen of Canary Island date palm.

The modification affects the area delimited by the garden cataloged with level 1 protection and catalog number 51104 (sheet CB 60/8 of the Catalog of Singular Elements), as well as the plots of the Specific Planning Area APE.04.04 “El Parral”. The main building of the estate is cataloged with level 2, partial grade, catalog number 29132.

Origin of the process

The process was initiated at the request of the entity Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, which requested a Special Plan for the plot. During the analysis, the need to review the delimitation and protection of the garden was established, a matter that was submitted to the Commission for the Protection of Historical, Artistic and Natural Heritage, which issued a favorable report on the decataloging, considering that the existing protection was excessive.

The documentation concludes that no historical layout of the garden representative of a specific era is preserved and that its values have been altered by the urban development of the surroundings. Furthermore, a discrepancy is noted between the delimitation of the Catalog of Singular Elements and the planning provided for in the General Plan’s Planning Map.

Double objective of the modification

The modification has a double objective:

• To correct the material error detected in sheet CB 60/8 of the Catalog of Singular Elements regarding the level 1 protected garden number 51104, as it is found to be practically entirely urbanized due to the development of APE.04.04 “El Parral”.
• To include in the Catalog of Singular Trees the specimen of Phoenix canariensis existing on the estate, to which catalog number 60849 is assigned, in order to preserve it from possible actions that could harm it.

Procedure and deadlines

The modification was processed at the initiative of the Madrid City Council, whose Plenary approved it initially on October 16, 2025, and provisionally on May 26, 2026. The procedure was completed with the following milestones:

• April 29, 2026: Favorable Strategic Environmental Report from the General Directorate for Energy Transition and Circular Economy.
• July 6 and 9, 2026: Favorable technical and legal reports from the General Directorate of Urbanism.
• July 23, 2026: Favorable report from the Urbanism Commission of Madrid.

The modification is classified as such and not as a revision; therefore, the Progress document was considered unnecessary, in accordance with Law 9/2001, of July 17, on Land of the Community of Madrid. The agreement was adopted upon the proposal of the Minister of Environment, Agriculture, and Interior, Carlos Novillo Piris, and signed by the president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.

An administrative appeal may be filed against the agreement before the High Court of Justice of Madrid within two months of its publication. The decision opens a patrimonial and urban planning debate in the heart of Madrid, as it replaces the protection of a historic garden with that of a single tree specimen, in a process driven by the planning of the “El Parral” surroundings.

Source: Official Gazette of the Community of Madrid, no. 215, September 9, 2026, section I.C (Other Provisions), pp. 31-33 (official reference: Agreement of September 2, 2026, file 03/14.174/26).