The 'Le Tore' heliport construction site has been seized: two Sorrento city officials are under investigation.

Sorrento – A raid occurred on Friday morning in Sorrento, in the "Le Tore" area, where the Port Authority – Coast Guard of Castellammare di Stabia and the Naval Station of the Guardia di Finanza of Naples executed a precautionary seizure order for the entire area and the construction site of the heliport complex.

The order was issued by the preliminary investigations judge of the Torre Annunziata Court, at the request of the Oplonti Public Prosecutor's Office, as part of an investigation into alleged violations of urban planning and landscape regulations.

A manager and an official from the Public Works Department of the Municipality of Sorrento are listed as suspects. Their status will now be assessed as the investigation progresses. As required by law, the suspects are presumed not guilty until a final conviction is issued.

The Prosecutor's objections

The investigation, conducted by the Coast Guard and the Financial Police under the coordination of the Torre Annunziata Public Prosecutor's Office and supported by technical consultancy, has highlighted a series of alleged irregularities in the authorization process and in the implementation of the heliport's redevelopment works.

According to investigators, the project was built in a territorial context characterized by numerous environmental and landscape constraints, without completing the procedures required by current legislation.

The main complaints include the alleged absence of a valid building permit, the failure to obtain a landscape permit, and the failure to complete an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), deemed necessary due to the area's proximity to Natura 2000 sites.

An area subject to multiple constraints

According to investigators' reconstruction, the construction site is located in a context of particular naturalistic value.

The area affected by the work is located near the Special Conservation Area "Amalfi Coast between Nerano and Positano", included in the European Natura 2000 network and managed by the Monti Lattari Regional Park.

The area is also affected by:

landscape constraint;
hydrogeological constraint;
classification as an area at medium landslide risk;
presence of illegal buildings already acquired as municipal property.

According to the Prosecutor's Office and as highlighted by the Campania Region and the Monti Lattari Park Authority, the very presence of these constraints would have required a more complex authorization process than the one followed.

The Conference of Services is also in the crosshairs

One of the central aspects of the investigation concerns the simplified Conference of Services, which had given the green light to the project.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, that procedure would have been invalid and illegitimate under several aspects.

The technical consultancy argues that the Conference would have expressed its opinion on a simple technical-economic feasibility project and not on an executive project, a circumstance that would have prevented it from being a decision-making process.

Furthermore, according to investigators, the conference was not attended by bodies deemed essential, including the Southern Apennine Basin Authority and the Amnesty Office of the Municipality of Sorrento, despite the expertise directly involved.

Doubts also about the amnesty of the artefacts

The technical investigations would also have concerned the artefacts present in the area.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the project involved the demolition and subsequent reconstruction of illegal buildings deemed remediable through a broad interpretation of the building amnesty applications.

This reconstruction, according to investigators, would conflict with current urban planning regulations, since some properties did not meet the requirements for amnesty.

Why the seizure was ordered

The investigating judge ordered the precautionary seizure of the entire construction site to prevent, according to the Prosecutor's Office, the continuation of the work and the possible worsening of the consequences of the alleged violations.

The measure concerns works still underway within an area subject to landscape and environmental protection.

The investigation is currently in the preliminary investigation phase. The seizure order may be challenged before the Court of Review, and the responsibilities of the suspects will be determined only following the outcome of any trial.