These roads are public domain paths, traditionally used for the movement of livestock and which may currently have other sports or recreational uses.
Currently, the region has 3000 km of this type of road, which prevents building permits for construction or inheritance in urban areas.
The Federation of Municipalities of the Region of Murcia held today a meeting of the Agriculture, Water and Environment Commission, chaired by Visitación Martínez, the mayor of San Pedro del Pinatar. Most of its members attended this meeting, accompanied by the Secretary General of the FMRM, Manuel Pato, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Environment of the CARM, Víctor Manuel Martínez, and Juan de Dios Cabezas, Deputy Director General of Forest Policy, to discuss the modification of article 8 of Law 8/2014, of November 21, on tax measures, administrative simplification and public service matters affecting livestock routes.
Currently, the Region of Murcia has almost 3000 kilometres of cattle trails, of which 280 run through urban areas, affecting the business network and numerous homes and therefore their owners. This heritage belongs to the public domain, is legally protected, and is the responsibility of the Autonomous Community, which must guarantee its conservation, following three phases: classifying, demarcating and marking out boundaries. Some of the problems related to cattle trails in urban areas are not being able to obtain a building permit, not being able to transfer a home as an inheritance, or writing the deed for it, among others.
There are several municipalities in the region where the layout of the livestock routes crosses urban areas and industrial estates, such as Alhama de Murcia, Ojós, Pliego, Cieza, Molina de Segura, Calasparra, or Caravaca.
Amendment to the Decree Law
In light of this problem, which affects the general public and local administrations, the Autonomous Community has worked on a Decree Law document to find an appropriate remedy.
The Secretary General responsible for this area, Víctor Martínez, has assured the commission that "with these modifications it can be solved, helping the residents, and in addition, the town councils can take advantage of the management of the livestock routes as they pass through the non-sectorized urban areas."
The proposed amendments to the Act state that “territorial and urban planning must respect the surface integrity, suitability and continuity of the routes of the livestock trails that cross the ordered land, in order to preserve the purposes for which this public domain is legally intended.” Likewise, said amendment states that “the classification of those livestock trails whose routes are located totally or partially in urban or sectorized developable land, will automatically adjust their descriptions and characteristics to those of the aforementioned territorial and urban planning instruments.” However, the point that most affects local entities is the one that refers to the adaptation, conservation and maintenance of urban or sectorized developable land, since it says that “if this runs along the route of the livestock trail that is understood to be adjusted by virtue of this provision, it will be the responsibility of the Town Councils.”
Regarding this last point, the Secretary General Manuel Pato said that “I consider this decree to be appropriate as long as some modification is added so as not to harm the Town Councils and, on the contrary, to protect them.” Pato indicated that after this commission, the issue of the VP will be taken to the Executive Commission that will take place on June 30 for its support.
According to sources from the General Directorate of Agriculture, an average of a thousand files are processed per year for the management of the assets of this type of roads and paths. And for this reason they believe that “the Town Councils have to be part of the decision-making process”, and they assure that “it is a question of adapting the livestock routes in the urban sections to the existing roads, so it should not entail a great expense for the town councils in the region”.
