Real Madrid have been dealt a major blow, after a judge ordered construction on the tunnels related to their parking project next to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium to be halted.
A subsidiary company of Real Madrid, Real Madrid Estadio, with Real Madrid General Manager Jose Angel Sanchez as the only employee, won the contract from the Madrid Council to administrate two underground carparks directly linked to the underground carpark at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The Council were to foot the cost of building the car park, but then Real Madrid Estadio would take over a 40-year lease, originally valued at €561m in profit over that period. They were the only bidder on the project.
However for some time a union of residents in the area have been fighting the project, which will see their neighbourhood torn for the works, and then also several major arteries restricted in the area, increasing traffic. The carpark would offer around 500 parking spaces to residents, although they have argued this is around the same amount that will be lost above ground.
The union has been locked in legal battle with the Council over the project, alleging that the project only serves private interests, and the proper planning permission was not carried out. Real Madrid Estadio had accepted to foot the costs of any setbacks so that the building could continue while the legal process was ongoing.
Now a judge has ruled that construction for the tunnels leading to the potential carpark has ruled that it must be stopped, as per Sport. The judge’s decision is based on the fact that if work were continue, that work would then become difficult or impossible to reverse, thus the legal process must be completed first. The Council have two weeks to appeal the decision.
