The Madrid City Council has appealed to the judgments of the Administrative Court that annulled the licenses granted to 50 ghost kitchens located in two industrial warehouses on Imperial Street, 6 (Centro), and Canillas Street, 18 (Chamartín). The rulings, issued on September 12, stated that the City Council had not carried out the environmental assessments of these places, which operate as restaurants but only serve food for home delivery, as well as the analysis of the collateral damage to the people living nearby. The appeal was confirmed to EL PAÍS by the defense lawyer of the neighbors, Fernando Arnanz, who has in his possession the documents of the appeals made by the City Council, dated October 3 and 4, although the affected parties received them on Monday, October 7. Despite this document, a spokesperson for urban planning at the City Council has simply denied the appeal when questioned by the newspaper: “Not for now.”
In the judgment, the Court also considered that, both at number 18 Canillas Street, where there are 38 kitchens installed, and at Imperial Street, 6, where there are another 12, “the City Council has failed in its duty” by not adequately classifying the activity for which the licenses were requested. In both blocks, there are 276 and 250 dwellings, respectively. “The entire project of works and activity concerned should have been subject to the environmental assessment procedure,” the text stated. Residents of both areas, who have been facing hundreds of problems due to pollution, noise, and the danger posed by these businesses since 2020, say they are “absolutely outraged” by the appeal. “It is unacceptable that these businesses are still in the center of Madrid and next to homes after four years, and we do not understand why the City Council has appealed again,” says Esther Lomas, who lives in the neighborhood of one of the industrial warehouses. The appeals also mean more money coming out of the pockets of the residents. Lomas says that before the ruling, the cost of the lawsuit already exceeded 35,000 euros, and now this “represents another tremendous outlay of money” for them. “We have to pay the lawyers again to defend us against this appeal. We are paying for it twice: with our taxes, since the City Council operates with its own lawyers, and with our own money,” she criticizes.
Both appeals imply that, for the time being, the kitchens will continue to operate, at least until the Supreme Court of Justice rules on the conformity of the judgment, or overturns it. This process could take up to a year, depending on the section to which the case is assigned, according to the lawyer, Arnanz. This criterion is supported by the most well-known success case regarding the annulment of licenses, in 2022. At that time, the Madrid City Council was compelled to close a dozen ghost kitchens located next to a public school in the Arganzuela district, at number 8 on Alejandro Ferrant Street, next to the Miguel de Unamuno center. The City Council appealed, and a year later the final ruling obliged the permits to be revoked.
