The Junta to scrutinise all building licences granted in Marbella since 1991
ANTONIO MONTILLA / SUR in English
The Public Works delegate will not say how many houses will have to be demolished
The Partido Popular demands that the Andalusian Government compensate owners
The Junta de Andalucía, in co-operation with the Marbella provisional administration, has announced its intention to revise all urban planning licenses granted by the Marbella Town Hall since 1991, the year that the GIL party won control of the Town Hall. The announcement was made last week by Concepción Gutiérrez, the Public Works delegate in the Junta de Andalucía.
The Delegate was responding to charges made by the Partido Popular party against the regional government’s planning policy in general, with particular reference to Marbella, and she explained that the revision of all urban plans made during the GIL years was a necessary step in the drawing up of a new Master Town Plan (PGOU) for Marbella, allowing it “to face the future with confidence and give back the town its dignity,” as she put it.Esperanza Oña, spokesperson for the Popular Parliamentary Group, repeatedly demanded that the delegate quantify the number of houses that would be demolished in Marbella, and with what criteria such action would be taken. The PP claims that demolition will result only in the suffering of those who purchased the houses in question in good faith, in many cases investing their life savings in these houses. Gutiérrez refused to give an exact figure, and asked that the PP respect the decisions of the justice system, which is the ultimate authority on the question of urban planning legality.
She asked that the Partido Popular desist from spreading panic among home owners in Marbella, and reminded them that the Junta has an interest in the well-being of specific home owners as well as the general well-being of all the citizens of the town.
She accused the PP of wishing to revise the history of the GIL years in local government, demanding that they do not appeal against the constitutionality of the decision to withdraw urban planning rights from the Marbella Town Hall.
Negligence
PP spokesperson Esperanza Oña, on the other hand, recommended that affected home owners should use the Mortgage Law to claim compensation from the Junta de Andalucía, which the PP accuses of having been negligent since 1991 in allowing this illegal building to go ahead in Marbella. She says that the Socialist PSOE regional government has been in power in Andalucía for the past 25 years, and that the Junta has all the powers it needs to have dealt with such a situation. “The Junta and the PSOE party now have to explain what its relationship was with Jesús Gil and Juan Antonio Roca,” she added.
Esperanza Oña spoke directly to Concepción Gutiérrez when she said: “Perhaps if you and Señor Chaves (President of the Junta de Andalucía) had to compensate for demolitions in Marbella out of your own pockets, you would not speak so lightly of knocking down the houses of people who had nothing to do with the illegality of the situation.”
If the courts do not decide to demolish houses in Marbella, the PP – if it wins the next municipal elections in the town – will demand compensation from the PSOE regional government for having allowed the situation to develop, and will spend the money on much-needed infrastructure for the town, we are told.
The Delegation for Public Works reminds us of the following demands made in relation to urban planning in Marbella since 1991:
Opposition to licenses granted: About 400, between 1992 and 2006.
Cases brought before the Malaga courts: 111.
Other measures: The withdrawal of urban planning rights from the Marbella Town Hall in 2006, the demand that the Town Hall should be suspended in 2006 and the drawing up and approval of a Master Town Plan between 2004 and 2007.
Watching too much television
Esperanza Oña had some difficult questions for Public Works delegate Concepción Gutiérrez with regard to the relationship between the PSOE party and Jesús Gil, beginning with a presumed payment by Gil of an illegal commission in 1990. Gutiérrez, referring to a popular gossip talk-show on television, said: “I answer as should a member of the Andalusian government in the regional parliament. Anything else you have to say, tell it to Salsa Rosa.” Oña replied: “You may not believe this, but I’ve never heard of Salsa Rosa. It’s clear you spend too much time watching television.”
Neither politician knew, apparently, that the show in question has been off the air for some months past.
Logical that Mijas and Estepona oppose Plan, says Chaves
Pilar González, spokesperson for the Andalusian Party Parliamentary Group, asked Manuel Chaves, President of the Junta de Andalucía, about the means he and his government have been using to check urban planning excesses in recent months. She reminded Chaves of the fact that the PSOE mayors of Estepona and Mijas have challenged the Plan de Ordenación del Territorio (Territorial Urban Plan, known as the POT) of the Costa del Sol.
Chaves, whose PSOE party governs at regional level, replied that he thought it logical that the mayors in question oppose the Plan. “They have a perfect right to do so, if they believe it works against the interests of their municipalities,” he said.
Pilar González expressed her surprise at such a contradiction, with two PSOE mayors challenging a plan drawn up by their own party, and said it was just one more example of the chaotic urban planning policies of the Junta de Andalucía.
When it came to his turn to reply, Chaves said: “This type of situation arises in our autonomous community just as it arises in all other regions in Spain. We live in a democratic society.” In his opinion, a mayor has the right to object to a Territorial Urban Plan if he believes its goes against the interests of the people he represents. “But we in the Junta de Andalucía have the obligation to consider the interests of all the people,” he added, accu
December 28, 2006 | Category: Real Estate and Investment