Figueres approves Guàrdia Urbana community office

Figueres City Council has given final approval to a project that will turn a municipal premises on Plaça Sant Vicenç de Paül into a community relations office for the Guàrdia Urbana, the town's local police force.

The council has published the approved project and the official notice of its final approval on its urban planning pages. The project document is a 7.8 MB file and the approval announcement a much shorter 125.2 KB notice.

What has been approved

The plan covers the adaptation of an existing premises on the square. It is described as a "project to adapt the premises" so that a community relations office of the Guàrdia Urbana de Figueres can be located there.

The published material classes the step as the "aprovació definitiva" of a works project. This is the final approval stage in a Catalan council's procedure for a public works project. It generally comes after an initial approval and a period in which the public can consult the documents and submit comments.

The council's listing does not give a budget, a construction timetable or an opening date for the office. It also does not say how many officers will be based there, what hours the office will keep or which services it will offer. Those details may be in the full project document, but they have not been set out in the summary information released so far.

Who the Guàrdia Urbana are

For readers less familiar with policing in Catalonia, the Guàrdia Urbana is the municipal police of Figueres. It is run by the town council, not by the Catalan government.

It works alongside the Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's regional police force, which handles most major criminal investigations across the region. Local forces such as the Guàrdia Urbana usually focus on day-to-day matters in their own municipality, including traffic, local by-laws, public order and neighbourhood issues.

Many towns across Catalonia call their local police "Policia Local". Figueres, like Barcelona, uses the name Guàrdia Urbana.

A community-facing office

The project's title makes clear that this is not planned as a general police station. It is a "community relations" office. The name suggests a base intended for contact between the force and residents, local associations and businesses, rather than an operational headquarters.

The approved documents do not describe how the office will operate in practice. For that reason it is not yet possible to say whether it will offer walk-in hours, handle complaints or act mainly as a meeting point for neighbourhood groups.

Plaça Sant Vicenç de Paül is a square in Figueres, the capital of the Alt Empordà county. Figueres is the main administrative and service centre for towns across the area, including Castelló d'Empúries and Empuriabrava.

Part of a wider focus on local policing

The approval comes as Figueres is putting more attention on public safety. The council has recently installed number plate cameras at town entrances, a technology-led measure aimed at monitoring vehicles entering and leaving the town.

Recent figures have also shown crime falling in Figueres and Roses, though drug offences rose over the same period.

A community relations office points to a different approach from the camera network. Cameras rely on surveillance. An office built around community relations relies on face-to-face contact and a visible local presence.

Next steps

With final approval in place, the council can move the project forward. The published material does not say when works will be put out to tender or when they could start.

Residents who want the full technical detail can consult the project document and the approval notice on the Figueres City Council website, in the urban planning section.

Why It Matters

For most Empuriabrava and Castelló d'Empúries residents, a police office on a Figueres square will have little direct effect on daily life. Their own municipality has its own local police. Still, the project is worth noting for what it suggests about the direction of local policing in the county's capital.

Taken together with the camera network, it points to a two-track approach in Figueres: more technology at the town's edges and more community contact at street level. Whether the office becomes a genuinely useful point of contact for residents will depend on details that have not yet been published, such as staffing, opening hours and the services it offers.

It is worth watching whether the council sets out a budget and timetable when the works go to tender. It will also be worth seeing whether other Alt Empordà towns, including Castelló d'Empúries, consider similar neighbourhood-level police offices in the future.