No solar plants at present, says Relleu town hall

RELLEU (population 1,147) has suspended all licences to install solar energy plants on non-building land.
An exception will be made for private installations intended for self-consumption in existing properties, announced the mayor of the small inland Marina Baja town, Lino Pascual.
The motion was approved during an extraordinary council session prompted by the solar energy boom throughout Alicante province, Pascual told the provincial Spanish press.
The town hall had received several requests in recent months and the municipality has decided to protect itself for the time being by suspending solar energy licences.
This measure was based on environmental reasons and the need to protect the countryside but was also due to Relleu’s future General Development Plan (PGOU) which would eventually substitute the present plan.
“This does not safeguard the different spaces which, owing to their natural characteristics, should be adequately protected in line with the European directives contained in national and regional laws,” Pascual said.
Relleu now needed to tackle issues linked to regulating the limits of urban land and adjusting this to “new needs” and “more realistic” procedures for implementing them, the mayor added.