Welex, leading law and accountant firm in Spain, is pleased to explain in detail the disaffection of livestock routes subject to urban planning in the autonomous community of Andalucía, Spain.
Do you have a plot of land in Andalucía, situated on urban land (or before that on land for development) and a cattle track cross it?
Do you know that there are legal instruments in Spain that allow you to disaffect that part of your land that is not affected by a cattle track?
Livestock trails are public roads used for the transit of livestock, which form part of the historical, cultural and natural heritage of Andalusia, Spain. They are of great ecological, scenic and social importance, as they contribute to biodiversity conservation, ecological connectivity, rural development and sustainable leisure and tourism.
However, cattle trails are also affected by the process of urbanization and pressure from other land uses, which can threaten their integrity and functionality. For this reason, Andalusian legislation establishes a series of instruments to protect, recover and manage the cattle trails, as well as to regulate their use and management in Spain.
One of these instruments is the disaffection, which consists of the exclusion of the land of cattle tracks from the public domain, when they have lost the characteristics of their definition or destination. Disaffection in Spain implies the loss of the status of a cattle track and the possibility of using the land for other purposes.
Disaffection is regulated by the “Reglamento de Vías Pecuarias de Andalucía”, approved by Decree 155/1998 of 21 July 1998. According to this regulation, disaffection can be initiated ex officio or at the request of a party, and requires an administrative file that includes a technical justification report, an appraisal report, a proposed resolution and a public information procedure.
In Spain, disaffection must be motivated by one of the following causes:
– The existence of urban planning that foresees a new land-use plan incompatible with the maintenance of the cattle route.
– The material or legal impossibility of re-establishing the original or alternative route of the cattle track when it has been illegally occupied or substantially altered.
– The existence of a public or social interest justifying disaffection, provided that adequate compensation to the public heritage of the cattle routes is guaranteed.
– Disaffection has important legal consequences, since it entails the loss of the domanial nature of the land and its incorporation into the private patrimony of the Junta de Andalucía.
Disaffection also has significant environmental and territorial implications, as it can lead to the fragmentation or loss of the green corridors that connect natural spaces and facilitate the movement of fauna and flora in Spain. For this reason, the disinvestment must be an exceptional and justified measure, subject to rigorous administrative and social control.
In this sense, the Andalusian Regional Government has recently approved the formulation of the Green Infrastructure Plan for the Connectivity of Andalusia, which aims to establish an integrated and coherent network of natural and semi-natural spaces that contribute to the conservation and restoration of ecosystems and their services. This plan includes livestock trails as one of the key elements to guarantee the ecological connectivity and sustainable development of the Andalusian territory.
If you would like to know more about the disaffection of livestock trails subject to urban planning in the autonomous community of Andalusia, or any other legal, accounting or fiscal issue, please contact our law firm Welex, lawyers and economists on the Costa del Sol.
