The Council of State has upheld a previous decision, according to which illegal buildings erected in areas that have declared as reforested areas must be knocked down.
Specifically the State Council rejected an appear against a 2007 decision of the General Secretary of Attica, according to which illegal buildings constructed in public forest must be knocked down. The 350-square-meter area had been declared a reforested area in 2005.
Aerial photographs from 1937 to 1962 proved that the area was in fact a forest, which had began to decline in the 1990s when buildings were being constructed in the area. According to the case file the alleged property owners appear to have seized the area in question in the late 1980s and built a 116-square-meter building, a parking lot and fences.
The State Council underlined that it is committed to knocking down illegal buildings in reforested areas, after summoning the interest parties and held that it is not necessary to draw up a forest map or registry in order to consider for the removal of illegal buildings to be legitimate.
