The Madrid City Council has confirmed its intention to appeal to the Supreme Court against the ruling of the Madrid High Court of Justice (TSJM) that annulled the Special Plan for the City of Sport of Atlético de Madrid.

Sources from the Urban Planning, Environment, and Mobility department have informed the media that the Council does not agree with the judicial interpretation that requires the project, which affects 265,000 square meters around the Riyadh Air Metropolitan Stadium, to be processed as a modification of the General Plan instead of a Special Plan.

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The Municipal Argument

The Special Plan, approved in the Cibeles Plenary on October 29, 2024, focuses on relaxing the aesthetic conditions of future buildings and providing uniformity to the regime of associated uses on the designated plots, without altering the land classification.

The Urban Planning team insists that the Special Plan maintains the classification of public facilities with a qualified use of singular equipment for the aquatic center and only seeks to make the access and hours of the associated uses (such as restaurants or shops) more flexible, which already contribute to the functioning of the main facility. “The Special Plan does not alter this regime of associated uses nor introduce dissociated, autonomous, or alternative tertiary uses,” they emphasize.

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Environmental Assessment, the Core of the Debate

Regarding the absence of the strategic environmental assessment, another key point highlighted by the TSJM, the City Council recalls that this is not mandatory for special plans that do not alter the buildability of the plots, as they claim is the case here.

The decision to appeal seeks to reverse the annulment of the project, keeping alive the roadmap for the development of this large sports, leisure, and nature complex in the San Blas-Canillejas district. The future of the City of Sport now awaits the final resolution of the Supreme Court.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.

📸 Florencia Tan Jun – 2025 Getty Images