Barcelona’s City Council suspends the granting of permits of industrial kitchens or “dark kitchen”
On March 25, 2021, the Barcelona City Council Government Commission agreed to suspend, for a period of one year, the granting of activity permits for the following establishments:
- Heading 12:51/6: Activity with environmental impact: Establishment of a workshop and/or industrial kitchen for the preparation of ready meals without sale to the public or tasting (catering) (Ordenança municipal de les activitats i d’intervenció integral de l’administració ambiental – OMAIIA)
- EC 1.1.6. Food specialists. Prepared dishes, when they have a workshop (Ordenança d’establiments alimentaris)
Likewise, by means of the same agreement, the Consistory has agreed to suspend the granting of building permits and the admission of previous communications of works destined to the installation of the aforementioned activities, expansion or reform of the premises.
This suspension has been agreed according to article 73 of the Catalan Land Use Act (Text refós de la Llei d’Urbanisme), which refers to optional suspensions of permits, in order to study the possibility of approving or amending a new urban plan in order to regulate those activities in the city of Barcelona.
The legal report attached to the suspension agreement justifies this “preventive measure” because of the new phenomenon of shared kitchens or multiple kitchens designed to carry out orders for home delivery, which has gained notoriety with the pandemic and the confinements. In this regard, the City Council considers that the importance of the activity to be implemented must be weighed against the adverse effects that may be caused to neighbours, and it must be determined whether the activity in question is classified as commercial use and direct service to citizens or whether it is classified as industrial use.
With respect to the area of the suspension, the City Council has excluded the Serra de Collserola Natural Park, the Montjuïc Park and the areas classified as industrial zones in the Zona Franca and La Verneda. Furthermore, with regard to the ready-made meals activity (EC 1.1.6. Especialistas alimentarios), this suspension does not affect specific areas of the city of Barcelona which already have activity permits suspensions for this specific activity according to other urban plans that have already been approved or are in the process of being approved. This is the case, for example, of the Sants-Hostafranchs area, the Sant Antoni district, the area around Carrer Gran de San Andreu, and the area around Carrer Girona, among others.
After its publication the Official Gazette of the province of Barcelona on March 26, 2021, the agreement for the optional suspension of licenses may be challenged before the administrative courts until May 26, 2021.
The suspension plan can be consulted on the Barcelona urban information portal:
https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/informaciourbanistica/cerca/ca/fitxa/B1702/–/–/ap/
