The processing of the building permit for the future grand mosque in Seville has been temporarily halted. The executive committee of Urban Planning at the City Council has removed the file that was to be debated this Friday from the agenda in order to request new technical and legal reports following the submission made by Vox.
The matter had already been postponed at the beginning of the week due to a computer issue that prevented the initially scheduled committee meeting from taking place. The file was set to be debated this Friday, but the City Council has ultimately decided to delay the decision until the new reports are available.
The City Council requests new reports
The municipal government spokesperson, Juan Bueno, explained that the withdrawal of the file is due to the need to analyze the observations made by Vox before issuing a resolution.
«Following the submission presented by Vox, a technical and legal report has been commissioned. Once we have it, we will act accordingly,» he stated.
Bueno stressed that the decision is based on technical and legal criteria. He indicated that once the reports are completed, the file will be reinstated on the agenda of the executive committee of Urban Planning.
The Urban Planning delegate, Juan de la Rosa, expressed the same view, noting that temporarily withdrawing a matter to complete its review is standard practice in the processing of administrative files.
Vox questions the urban classification of the project
The request for new reports comes after Vox raised doubts about the primary use of the planned complex.
The municipal group maintains that the mosque would constitute the predominant use of the building and believes this circumstance could affect the allowable buildable area and require modifications to the project.
«Everything they want to build there would be incompatible if the main use is a place of worship,» said Vox’s municipal spokesperson, Gonzalo García de Polavieja.
For the time being, the City Council has not commented on the substance of these allegations and has opted to request new reports before resolving the file.
The mayor defended compliance with regulations
The decision comes one day after Seville’s mayor, José Luis Sanz, stated that the project met the requirements set by urban planning regulations.
«We are aware of the social impact this issue generates, but ideologies are not above the law. The law must be upheld,» the mayor declared.
The withdrawal of the file now delays the decision on granting the permit until the requested verifications are completed.
The Mezquita Foundation maintains that the project complies with regulations
The Mezquita Foundation of Seville maintains that the project complies with current urban planning legislation and recalls that both the funding and the land on which the complex will be built are private.
Its spokesperson, Jalid Nieto, stated that the documentation had been reviewed again without any irregularities being detected.
«If they postpone it, we will file the corresponding appeal. And if they deny the permit, we will have to go to court, even if we don’t want to. We are in the realm of law, not politics,» he said.
The project involves the construction of an Islamic complex next to the Polígono Sur, which would include a mosque with capacity for 400 to 500 people, as well as a cultural center, classrooms, meeting rooms, a cafeteria, and other spaces for social use. The granting of the permit remains pending the decision to be made by the Urban Planning committee once it receives the requested technical and legal reports.