According to a statement from the municipality, a ruling by the Administrative and Fiscal Court of Penafiel, issued on Monday, dismissed the injunction filed by the Association for the Development of Penafiel, the promoting entity of the Senior University of Penafiel (USP).
The dispute stems from the municipality’s intention, expressed in a deliberation at the end of 2023, to use former primary schools on Rua Conde Ferreira in the city center, which are municipal property, for its regular activities. These facilities have been used by USP since 2014 under a protocol between the two parties.
The city council claims to need the space to install, among others, social action services necessary to respond to the increased responsibilities transferred by the central administration. The municipality had offered an alternative space with “excellent conditions,” according to the city, for USP to operate in the locality of Novelas, on the outskirts of the city.
However, USP officials have argued that the facilities indicated by the city council, being far from the city center and lacking adequate transportation and access for seniors, do not meet the necessary conditions. They also state that there are other alternatives that the municipality could use in the urban area.
For several weeks, USP members have been gathering daily near the old schools to claim what they consider to be their right to use the space, whose keys are still in their possession.
Sofia Leal, vice-president of USP’s managing entity, told Lusa today that the court’s ruling is already being analyzed by legal services and an appeal is likely to be filed. The leader again laments the fact that “the city council is trying to evict” the institution from that space, considering it “a revenge by the mayor motivated by partisan reasons.”
Since the beginning of the process, the city council has argued that one of the details of the transfer agreement (clause 8, no. 2, paragraph B), signed in January 2014 to be in force for 20 years, provided that the municipality could request the facilities at any time, as long as invoking public interest, which it claims to have done in a timely manner in this case.
This argument seems to have been echoed in the court’s ruling, to which Lusa had access, which concludes that “the applicant [USP] entered into a contract that has clear marks of precariousness and, as such, the possibility of having to give up the property at any time was already foreshadowed there.”
It is also stated that, “in the absence of any clear and detailed allegation of behavior by the respondent [city council] that has actively created the impression that at no time would the use of the property be withdrawn, no abusive action is seen in the present situation.”
With the injunction decision known, the municipality highlights in a press release sent to Lusa, “the renovation works of Penafiel School No. 1 will continue.”