Newsroom
Eight villages trying to stop an asphalt plant from moving to Mitsero have lost their latest court bid, but their fight over whether the project should go ahead is still alive.
The Supreme Constitutional Court on Thursday refused the community councils permission to challenge an earlier ruling that denied a temporary halt to the project.
The distinction matters: the court has not given a final ruling on the communities’ challenge to the planning permit. That appeal is still waiting to be heard.
The councils want to overturn the approval allowing Prometheas Asphalt Ltd to relocate its plant from Tseri to Mitsero. While their appeal proceeds, they had asked for the permit to be suspended and work stopped.
The Administrative Court of Appeal rejected that request in June, finding that the evidence did not show a sufficiently strong likelihood of harm to public health or the environment that could not be put right later.
The communities then sought permission to take that refusal to the Supreme Constitutional Court.
They argued that the earlier ruling broke with established legal practice and that the health and environmental concerns justified a further hearing. The Republic and the company opposed their request.
In its unanimous decision, the Supreme Constitutional Court said the councils had not met the legal requirements for another review. Simply disagreeing with the previous court’s decision was not enough.
It also stressed that Thursday’s ruling does not decide the main dispute. Instructions have been given for that appeal to be heard on an expedited basis.
How the dispute reached this point
Planning authorities approved the relocation on March 24, 2022. Eight community councils, Mitsero, Agrokipia, Agios Ioannis Nicosia, Kato Moni, Arediou, Menoikou, Malounta and Orounta, challenged the decision.
Their initial case was dismissed in February 2026. They appealed and sought a temporary freeze while the courts considered their challenge.
That freeze was refused in June. Thursday’s decision means they cannot take that refusal any further through this application.
For the villages, it is another setback in a dispute over an industrial plant they oppose having in the area. Whether its planning approval should stand remains for the appeal court to decide.
