Joshua Parfitt
A RESIDENT’S association has begun legal action to stop the completion of Barcelona’s iconic Sagrada Familia.
Construction of the emblematic cathedral stalled after architect Antoni Gaudi’s drawings were destroyed in a 1930s fire.
Officials then could not find any record of planning permission being granted when Gaudi took over construction in 1885.
But after permission was finally granted by mayor Ada Colau last month, plans may be scuppered again by 3,000 people who fear for the fate of their apartments.
Residents particularly on Carrer de Mallorca, which runs along the east side of the cathedral, worry they will have to vacate their homes as the area becomes a building site.
“We are directly affected and that is why we want to take the necessary legal actions”, Salvador Barroso, a spokesman for the Association of those Affected by the Construction of the Sagrada Familia, told El Pais.
The newly-formed association will present a legal complaint to Barcelona’s Supreme Court, as well as ask the Town Hall to rescind planning permission.
Colau last month allowed building work to proceed until 2026, by which time completion of a planned 12 towers would see La Sagrada Familiar become Europe’s tallest religious structure, at 172.5 metres height.
She also approved €4.6 million to correct the iconic anomaly in Barcelona’s skyline.
