The TSJC endorses the Badalona City Council’s project to demolish the old factory and turn it into a green area
The controversy over the fate of the Mobba, the old Scales and Scales factory located in the center of Badalona, has experienced a new episode that could be decisive. The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has appreciated the appeal of the municipal executive of the PP, headed by Xavier Garcia Albiol, against the suspension of the demolition of the building, which a part of the citizens of Badalona defends as a space of artistic creation.
The court ruling casts doubt on whether the Mobba has the requirements to be declared a Cultural Property of Local Interest (BCIL) and, therefore, opens the door for the Albiol government to go ahead with its plan to replace the old and deteriorated construction for a public square of nearly 2,700 m². The TSJC does not impose the costs of the process on any of the parties involved. The sentence is a step forward in the aspirations of the PP but it is not yet final. A cassation appeal can be submitted until April 9. From the Salvem la Mobba platform they say that it is now time to analyze the sentence and that the next step will be to decide whether or not to present this appeal. At the moment, they have not made any other assessment.
The mayor of Badalona celebrates the sentence as a “victory” and apologizes to the opposition
The mayor of Badalona, Xavier Garcia Albiol, is convinced that the sentence cannot be reversed and has asked the opposition parties to apologize to the residents of the area “for these three years of putting obstacles”. The first mayor of the PP has described the sentence of the TSJC as a “victory for Badalona”.
The controversy over Mobba dates back to 2014, when the City Council expropriated it and classified it as a green area
The dispute over the old and central building dates back to 2014, when the Badalona City Council expropriated it and classified it as a green area, with the aim of demolishing the factory and building a park there . For a few years, several artistic companies and some creators, such as the Xirriquiteula children’s theater company, the Castellers de Badalona and the builder of the demon of Badalona, Ramon de los Heros, settled there. The fire of an occupied ship in the Gorg neighborhood, on December 9, 2020, where four immigrants died, reactivated a debate about the state of some buildings in the city and the City Council, which was frightened by itself some tragedy was repeated, forced the artists to leave the old Montajes de Básculas y Balanzas factory. They were offered no alternative.
