Marbella Urban Plan (PGOU) approved leaving the decision on whether to demolish around 500 dwellings to the courts

02 Feb Marbella Urban Plan (PGOU) approved leaving the decision on whether to demolish around 500 dwellings to the courts

The new PGOU was approved on Friday by COTUA, the Andalucía Territorial Planning Commission and is thought to bring order back to the town where more than 18,000 properties have been built outside the regulations. However, the decision about what will happen to the, built on land destined for other uses, generally because they are on public coastal land, remains in court’s hands. More specifically, these are the 297 homes in Banana Beach, 50 in Golf Rio Real, 30 in Torrevigía and another 50 in urbanisations outside the plan, all of them having seen their licence to build negated by the courts.

The courts will have to decide whether these properties –mainly homes- will be demolished as they remain outside the plan. In theory the courts will consider the interests of all involved parties.

By now, several residents groups, including the residents of Banana Beach, have announced their purpose to appeal against the PGOU. Their defence includes placing a criminal complaint against the PP and PSOE councillors who voted for the plan last July, accusing them of perversion of the course of justice. They also consider that Juan Espadas, the regional councillor for housing and town planning in the Junta should be charged in the same way because there are other developments in the same situation which have now been accepted into the plan.

It remains therefore, despite the approval of the new PGOU, in the hands of judges whether there are widespread demolitions, if compensation is ordered in such cases, who is deemed responsible for the payment of such compensation, or if a greater flexibility is found in the search for a legally acceptable way to keep the owner-occupied properties standing.

Published on: Feb 2, 2010