The licences for two developments in Elviria Sur are under inspection

The majority of the buyers are British residential tourists and investors

The conflict is a clear example of the poisoned legacy of 15 years of planning corruption in Marbella and affects two developments in Elviria Sur, Santa María Green Hills and Los Lagos de Santa María. The majority of the buyers are British investors and residential tourists.

The licences in question were granted in 2002 and 2003 by Marbella Town Hall and clearly violate the planning regulations (PGOU) in force at the time, according to sources from the Planning Department, who maintain that neither of the two developments is likely to be granted the first occupancy licence.

Santa María Green Hills is a development of 192 apartments built on land designated for townhouses, although the project also infringes on 700 square metres of road and around a thousand sqaure metres reserved for parks and gardens. Meanwhile Los Lagos de Santa María, a complex with 340 flats, is built on land reserved for detached villas, according to the planning regulations.

Faced with this scenario the buyers, who have paid deposits of between 90,000 and 110,000 euros are refusing to take the transaction any further. Of the more than 500 apartments in both developments, which have practically all been sold, the title deeds for fewer than 150 have been signed, despite the fact that the building work has been completed for a year.

The developer - Los Lagos de Santa María Golf, registered in Granada - is calling for the buyers to meet the commitments they subscribed to when they agreed to purchase the apartment. The firm maintains that the building licences are legal, as they were granted in their day by the Town Hall, and are still fully valid, despite the fact that they are currently under inspection. The firm also interprets what it refers to as “positive silence” as a sign that the first occupancy licence has been granted.

In fact the developers consider themselves to be a “third person who acted in good faith” as they bought the development projects after they had been awarded municipal building licences. One of the developments was purchased from the firm Apex 2000, a subsidiary of Iberdrola, while the other was bought from Sur Inversiones Sema. This latter firm was run by the Italian businessman Giovanni Piero Montaldo, arrested in the third phase of Operation Malaya and charged with bribery.

According to the firm’s representative, Víctor Sánchez, the real reason for the owners to refuse to sign the title deeds has nothing to do with the licences, but with the change in the market and the difficult prospect of selling the properties on. “As they are investors, they don’t want to sign the title deeds because they don’t have buyers. Their investment has backfired”, he argues.

The developers maintain that the delay in drawing up the title deeds is causing them serious problems, as the bank continues to charge them interest.

The Banco Popular, which acts as a guarantor for the amounts paid as deposits, has a similar position. In one of the documents handed in to the court, the bank’s legal representative argues that “if the plaintiffs have not received their properties it’s because they haven’t wanted to”.

The bank also subcribes to the argument that the buyers are property speculators. One of the papers handed in to the court states: “You don’t have to think too much to realise that they bought the properties to speculate with. Now things are getting tough on the Costa del Sol, it’s time to try their luck against the bank and they might at least get their money back plus interest, which wouldn’t be such a bad deal after all”.

Interim committee starts organising green zones

H. Barbotta

At last week’s Town Hall meeting the caretaking committee agreed to start formally transferring roads and green zones in 48 developments in Marbella to public domain. The move will allow them to process 250 applications for private planning permission which had been frozen as the public areas had not been formally ceded to the local authority,

Roca and his former advisors blame Muñoz for Guadalpín irregularities

The former planning consultant and alleged ringleader of the Marbella Town Hall web of corruption, Juan Antonio Roca, was interrogated by the judge about the Hotel Guadalpín project last week. Also questioned on the matter were Roca’s two former collaborators, María Castañón and Raquel Escobar. All three coincided in blaming former Mayor Julián Muñoz for allowing the Guadalpín Hotel to be completed and opened, despite the “serious” irregularities in the construction project.

The Law for the Prevention of Fiscal Fraud demands the computerisation of all house registering

According to the Professional Organisation of Tax Inspectors in Spain, a total of 4,000 million euros slips through the tax net in this country each year in non-payment of Value Added Tax alone.

The new law covers other aspects of fiscal fraud as well, we are told by Andrés Tortosa, deacon of the College of Public Notaries, in that it requires all financial transactions to be documented, including payments made in the initial stages of a property sales promotion, for example. “This is very important,” he says, “because it means that accounts will be kept of all previous payments made, so that all amounts will have to be justified, and donations and loans cannot be hidden.”

The money trail

The law will allow for the identification of those people or entities to whom the money belongs, and if the original source of the money cannot be identified, then this too is stated on the relevant documents,” says Tortosa.

In his view, the principal value of the new law is that it will allow the tax authorities to trace the origin of money used in property and other transactions. “The aim of the tax authorities is to know all about the operation in question, from the initial deposit up to the final payment in the public notary’s office,” he adds.

The new law brings the 1862 Law of Public Notaries up to date, obliging all public notaries to computerise all data they handle and make it available to the General Council of Public Notaries, to be accessed by the relevant authorities in the fight against fiscal fraud and money laundering. Certain changes will have to be made by public notaries to comply with the terms of the new law, although the use of the most beneficial formulas is still perfectly legal. The law is not aimed exclusively at irregularities in property market transactions, but widens the definition of a tax haven and demands that all people or entities carrying out an economic activity in this country pay taxes in Spain, even if their main offices are outside the country.

A large part of the new law deals with financial operations carried out between people or entities which are related in some way, and they will be forced to pay taxes according to market value. The deacon of the College of Public Notaries points out a loop-hole in the law. “The legislation seems to have ignored the officially registered unmarried couples, which is a reality in today’s world,” he says. In such cases, failure to declare this ‘marital’ status and pay the corresponding taxes will result in a fine of 1,500 euros for each piece of data omitted, 5,000 euros for the complete omission or 15 per cent of the undeclared amount estimated by the tax authorities.

The new law falls short in certain respects, according to some public notaries, in that it covers property transactions as bricks and mortar, but not as boats, aircraft, stocks and so on, which may also represent wealth. “There is a gap in the legislation, because not only should the tax authorities keep track of real-estate transactions, but other property as well,” says Andrés Tortosa. He reminds us of why we all pay taxes. “Less dishonesty should result in the state being in a position to lower taxes for everybody, and to improve public services.”

The anti-fraud law

The main points of the new law, which came into force on 1 December, are the following:

Property transactions

Public notaries: They are now obliged to state exactly how house-purchase payments are made (whether by cheque, in cash, by bank transfer or by any other means) and to inform the fiscal authorities of the same.

Previous payments: They are also obliged to take note of any previous payments made, such as in the case of special promotions or off-plan purchases, and if unable to do this, they must inform the authorities of the situation.

Registering: Public notaries are obliged to register and file the details of all property transactions, especially in the case of those involving public institutions.

Others

Identity: The law tightens control over the identity of people and companies involved in financial transactions.

Tax havens: People or entities that carry out their principal economic activities in Spain must pay taxes in Spain, even if their headquarters are in another country.

Associated entities: Financial operations carried out between related people or entities must pay taxes at normal market value. No special mention is made of so-called ‘parejas de hecho’, meaning officially registered unmarried couples.

Everybody not happy Not everybody is happy with the new law. The Professional Organisation of Tax Inspectors claims that the fact that public notaries are obliged to register the forms of payments made in property transactions will not detect the use of laundered money in such cases. “The deeds of the property are registered in a financial transaction involving money accounted for, but secret payments have often been made beforehand,” they say. The public notaries also recognise that the new law will not clarify the relationship between the various parts involved in the transaction, although they agree that more control is being exercised in this respect.

The tax inspectors also claim they do not have the human, technical or material resources to fight tax evasion properly, and believe that the fines imposed by the courts are too low.

With regard to Value Added Tax, they believe that there is not enough being done to combat the so-called ‘carrousel fraud,’ which refers to the practice of companies opening and closing for business before the tax authorities catch up with them. They call for mayors and urban planning councillors to be named on planning permits.

Planning permission can only be granted if plans allow for the use of renewable energy

The Code does, however, bear in mind the normal hours of sunshine in the different Spanish regions. In the case of Malaga, which is located in bioclimatic zone IV, along with Cadiz, Granada and Jaén, solar panels must meet 70 per cent of the building’s inhabitants’ demand for hot water. In the case of the building having heated swimming pools, the solar panels must cover 60 per cent of the building’s demands. Under normal conditions it is estimated that the average person uses an average of 30 litres of hot water a day, therefore an average household with four members requires 120 litres a day, explains Eduardo Rodríguez, the head of the Department of Thermal Motors and Machinery at the Malaga School of Technical Engineers.

The areas with the least sunshine, for example, La Coruña, will have to meet 30 per cent of residents’ hot water demands while buildings in Madrid will be expected to provide 50 per cent.

The regulation also affects buildings that are going to be renovated, unless the technical conditions of the construction prevent the installation of solar panels and the water heating system.

The water has to be heated to 60 degrees centigrade to avoid the spread of the Legionella bacteria, “although the risk of this is minimal in this type of installation”, points out Eduardo Rodríguez.

The inclusion of solar panels will increase construction costs by just one per cent. According to the Coordinator of the Andalusian Institute of Renewable Energy, Francisco Serrano, the new rules are quite ambitious, as they are encouraging and imposing the use of renewable energy. “At last there is a regulation that obliges us to use Spain’s solar resources, when our technological capability of using them is quite clear”, explains Rodríguez, who adds that the Germans install ten times more solar panels than the Spanish, with only half the solar resources. In fact in 2005 a million square metres of solar panals were installed in Germany, compared to the 100,000 square metres in Spain.

Experts calculate that the requirements of the new construction code will mean energy savings of between 30 and 40 per cent for each building and reduce carbon dioxide emissions through energy consumption by between 40 and 55 per cent. Therefore the new buildings will be doing their bit towards helping Spain meet the Kyoto protocol, reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.

Generating energy

Businesses, shopping centres, industrial warehouses, factories, hotels and stations, among other buildings will all have to do their bit to reduce energy consumption, according to the new Technical Construction Code. This stipulates that new premises covering more than 3,000 square metres must be prepared to generate their own electricity through photovoltaic solar energy panels. Surplus energy generated by these businesses can be sold to the electricity company.

According to the European Union, between 30 and 50 per cent of the energy used in the illumination of offices, commercial buildings and recreational premises could be saved with more efficient technology. Therefore office buildings will have to be equipped with control systems that adjust the lighting to the actual occupation of the room at any one time and make the most of natural light.

The Partido Popular demands that the Andalusian Government compensate owners

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

Judges are reluctant to adopt such drastic measures, especially if the buildings are inhabited

The prosecutors have the support of the Penal Code which allows courts to order demolition

On the Costa del Sol and in the Axarquía region alone it is thought that there are more than 40,000 homes in this situation.

Article 319 of the Spanish Penal Code establishes prison terms of between six months and three years for building on land in the “special protection” category, and between six months and two years for building on land simply not designated for building (no urbanizable). Furthermore judges can order the properties to be demolished “at the expense of the defendant”, even though this will involve awarding damages to third parties who acted in good faith. However the fact that many of the homes in question are inhabited by the time a case reaches court, combined with the millions of euros in damages that would have to be paid out, make this a very unpopular measure with judges, according to Juan Calvo-Rubio.

The only way of solving the problem is to attack it at the roots. Apart from demolitions the Public Prosecution Department is calling for precautionary measures, such as orders to stop building work and even to cut off a site’s power and water supply. The problem, according to Calvo-Rubio, is that the cases reach the courts “too late”, often when the work has finished. This has led the Public Prosecution Department to call for greater intervention at an earlier stage and for demolition orders to be dealt with initially by the administrative courts which are faster than the criminal courts.

Before calling for the demolition of a building the department studies each case, taking into account whether the homes involved are already lived in, or whether the offence has been committed by builders and developers or civil servants and politicians, who may have accepted bribes in exchange for planning permission.

Calvo-Rubio criticised the amount of power the local authorities have when it comes to urban development, “and we all know that the nearer the temptation is the easier it is to be corrupted”.

Hundreds of cases

Malaga’s Prosecution Department is currently working on 300 cases of alleged planning offences committed by private individuals, firms or authorities. Accusations affect mayors and councillors of all the main political parties although the majority of the cases involve politicians who once belonged to the now extinct GIL group.

Operación Malaya is by far Spain’s biggest police investigation into planning offences, and Julián Muñoz is the former mayor with the most cases against him (almost a hundred).

Nevertheless Marbella is not the only local authority with alleged “irregularities” in urban planning. In May the Prosecution Department filed cases against the mayors of Tolox, Benalmádena and Gaucín, as well as councillors from Gaucín and Manilva and the municipal architect and secretary in Tolox, among others. And as the investigations go on, new cases continue to appear.

“No one benefits from demolition”

Builders and developers in the province of Malaga have fiercely criticised the Public Prosecution Department’s plans to increase its applications for demolition orders. José Prado, President of the provincial association of builders and developers, believes that demolition must be avoided, especially when properties are inhabited and the buyers are not responsible for the offences committed, but are instead the victims of fraud.

Prado adds that he agrees that anyone knowingly committing an offence must be punished by the law, whether they be builders, developers, civil servants, politicians or buyers. “But a lot of individuals have been cheated and are not to blame”, he points out. “We all know of cases of houses in the Axarquía and on the Costa del Sol where plots without planning permission have been sold to foreigners who have been conned by the promise that a fine solves everything. And that is no longer the case”.

Although the tourism and travel exhibition fills the halls of ExCel and demand for space increases every year as new countries join the competition to attract tourists, the Spanish stands occupy a large area, and among them, Andalucía was prominent this year with its colourful new logo and a large contingent of Costa del Sol representatives, among many others. SUR in English, as it has been for the past 22 years, was present with its own stand, supporting the efforts of both governmental and private tourism initiatives.

Support

There was no lack of official support for Spanish tourism at the World Travel Market this year. Paulino Plata headed the group from the Junta de Andalucía and the President of the Costa del Sol Tourist Board, Juan Fraile, was there with his team. And while in previous years, dignitaries from Madrid have been less in evidence, this year both Joan Clos, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade, and Magdalena álvarez, Minister of Development, travelled to London in support of one of Spain’s main sources of revenue.

There was also support from celebrities. While business meetings were going on behind the walls of the stands and press conferences were held in rooms out of the public gaze, many visitors to the World Travel Market were more interested in the public appearance of Rafael Nadal, who was at ExCel to help promote the Balearic islands

Themes

Amparo Fernández, director of Turespaña, was one of the many at the World Travel Market who pointed out the changes brought about in the sector by the increasing, and unstoppable, use of internet by would-be travellers. British travellers, she said, have always been ahead of trends in the market, and while at European level 20% of tourism products are bought online, in the UK the figure is 40% and rising. Four out of every ten British tourists buys holidays via internet, and eight out of ten find out about their destinations online. Juan Fraile, who said he is “calmly optimistic” about the future of tourism on the Costa del Sol, commented to SUR in English that “everybody wants to make their lives easier” and that travel agencies will need to specialize and adapt to this trend.

Both Turespaña and the Costa del Sol Tourist Board continue to invest in tourism and Amparo Fernández confirmed that emphasis will be placed on the sun and beach sector, which will account for more than half of the international advertising campaigns. “This has been the case for the past two years”, she said, “and we are stepping it up. Before then, we only earmarked about 20% of the budget for sun and beach promotions, because it was thought to be a product which sold itself, but this is not so. It is our main attraction and we must make the most of it”.

Airports

Sun and sea may be the attraction, but as Magdalena álvarez said in her presentation of the new Spanish airports schemes, both the first and the last impression of Spain, for eight out of ten tourists, is of Spanish airports. Her Ministry is currently investing nearly 16 billion euros to modernize the Spanish network of 47 airports. “The Spanish government plans to increase the capacity of its airport facilities, doubling the network’s traffic absorption capacity from 165 to 311 million passengers a year by 2020” she said. She also announced that by 2008, as required by the European Union, Spanish airports will take care of landside assistance for passengers with reduced mobility – an aspect of travel which has traditionally been managed directly by the airlines. The “Plan Malaga” also specifically mentions as its second objective (after the creation of an efficient and competitive airport) the commitment to environmental sustainability and attention to the ecological, social and urban needs of the area. As she pointed out, tourists not only want to arrive at a modern, comfortable airport, they also want to be able to travel on to visit the area’s unspoiled natural resources.

They warn that excess supply is beginning to slow sales, which are now taking three times longer to finalise

Although the property market is still in a fairly healthy state, in spite of continually rising interest rates approved by the European Central Bank in recent months, the experts warn that in certain parts of the Mediterranean coastline and Andalucía – including the Costa del Sol – owners can no longer expect to get the high prices they have previously expected. In other words, it is beginning to become a buyers market.

Investment

Many people in Malaga invested in property some years ago as a means of earning a relatively fast profit with a short-term investment. They saw the speculators scrambling over each other to get their hands on properties everywhere, and quite naturally, they wanted in. The spectre of even higher prices for houses and apartments encouraged many to extend themselves too far, financially speaking, and many of them now find themselves with properties they cannot afford on their hands and little chance of unloading them on the open market.

An additional problem, felt more keenly in the area to the west of Malaga city, is the high rate of construction over many years. This has inevitably led to an excess of supply, in turn acting as a brake on both demand and sales. Experts in the sector speak of ‘anguish sales’, in reference to the need for speculators, many of whom bought off-plan, to sell quickly at what they believe to be below true market price. If property speculation was once a ticket to sudden wealth on the Costa del Sol, it is certainly no longer so.

Slow sales

Real-estate agents point out that it takes three times longer to sell a property now than it did just a few years ago, the average time now being more than two and half years for a coastline house or apartment to sell. José Antonio Pérez, property professor and director of research in the Business Practices Institute, tells us that prices of residential properties reach their ceiling at 300,000 euros, and from there on sales have more or less stopped. He talks of fear in the property investment market. “Many investors are beginning to get very nervous right now, afraid they will not be able to sell. So they end up selling at below market value and looking towards other parts of the country, such as the south-eastern coastline of Spain,” he says.

The president of the College of Real-estate Agents, Cayetano Rengel, prefers to speak of nervousness rather than fear. “The problem is getting quite serious,” he warns us. “Just a few years ago, the buyer would purchase a few properties at a time with the intention of selling them on a short time later and doubling his initial investment. The panorama has now changed considerably. The property market is in a process of self-regulation and equilibrium.”

The response by the speculators is to sell fast, however much they believe they might be losing in the process. Mortgages rates are rising, and nobody wants to be caught in the middle. “We have been receiving many requests for sales in recent years. One can see just how nervous people are, many of them desperate to sell. Even the promoters are asking for our help,” says Rengel.

Not easy to sell

Juan Carlos Cuevas, owner of the Tecnocasa property agency in Malaga city, agrees with this assessment of the current market. He confirms the high level of saturation in the market at this time, adding that it takes a lot of effort to sell right now. “Even the small residential developments are having difficulties,” he adds. Long gone are the times when the buyer would walk into the office and choose a property off the architect’s drawing. “If we took up to 90 days to push the sale through in the past, it is now taking a great deal longer, up to nine months in may cases. Also, many owners are obliged to drop the asking price drastically, because they have no choice.”

Crisis

In spite of this situation, the Association of Builders and Promoters of Malaga refuse to talk of a crisis. “We do not believe that there is any real cause for alarm,” says the secretary of the association, Juan Moreno. “What we have is no more than a slow-down. Malaga is too attractive for a real crisis to come about.” In the face of this ‘slow-down,’ nevertheless, the University of Barcelona recommends that speculators change their focus. They should look more towards the office sector in the future, we are told by these experts.

Facts & figures

Speculation

Before: Five years ago, the stock market crisis encouraged many people in Malaga to invest in houses and apartments, many of them on the Costa del Sol. The result was a sharp price-rise, and speculators doubled their money over a period of a few years.

Now: Excess supply and high prices have slowed sales. The pattern of continuously rising property prices has levelled off, cutting profits in the short term for the speculators.

Prices and sales

Price-rise: Last year, prices rose for the first time below two digits since 2001.

Sales: At the moment, apartments on the Costa del Sol take an average of two and a half years to sell.

The Ministry of the Environment is planning to expropriate two plots of land leading onto the beach over the next six months

The central government, through the Costas Department of the Environment Ministry, has been making great efforts in recent months, not only to save the remaining virgin coastline in the municipality of Marbella from further building, but to recuperate coastal land already built upon. Part of this plan is the expropriation of two plots of land at Las Dunas de Artola and El Pinillo, making a total of 233,000 square metres of land leading on the beaches themselves. Las Dunas de Artola is situated a few kilometres east of Marbella town, and El Pinillo is the area leading down to the sea from the eastern entrance arch to Marbella. The 23 hectares in question will become parkland with leisure areas, parking spaces and access to the beaches.

Advanced plans

“This land has to be zoned for public use, beginning with the process of expropriation and putting the work to be done out to tender,” says a spokesperson for the Costas Department, which plans to finalise the design of the project this month and hopes to have all the necessary paperwork done within a period of six months. The plans for both plots of land are fairly advanced, and the Ministry of the Environment has announced that the area close to Las Dunas de Artola, which is one of the few remaining areas of sand dunes in the municipality of Marbella, will become a public park, with beach access routes and necessary services.

Bad condition

Plans for the El Pinillo area are less exact so far, although the Costas Department has announced that the 12 hectares of land in question will be restored, in so far as is possible, to its original state. This area used to be sand dunes, and some still remain, although in bad condition. One of the ideas proposed for this area is a sports ground close to the dunes.

Recuperation

This land beside the sea need not necessarily be expropriated, depending on negotiations with various owners. But, along with more on the entire Costa del Sol, it forms part of an overall plan to recuperate part of the coastal areas that have been lost over the years for public use. The land in Marbella that is being expropriated is all of high environmental value, and much of it has been built on. These buildings, which are on land that has been officially designated as ‘maritime-terrestrial public land,’ will be knocked down over the years to come.

Acquisition

The Ministry of the Environment has carried out a study of a total of 122 fincas of high environmental value all along the Spanish coastline, of which 47 (four in Malaga) have been included in the compulsory acquisition programme at national level. Expropriation orders are planned, along with those in Las Dunas de Artola and El Pinillo, for plots of land in the El Playazo area in Nerja, and a finca in El Arraijal, in Malaga City. The Costas Department is also working, over a period of two years, on the marking out of 132.7 kilometres of Malaga coastline for possible further action to be taken to protect natural spaces beside the sea and the beaches.

Prejudicial

The eventual aim of such action is to finally put an end to any ambiguity with regard to what land can be build upon and what can not, a situation which had been prejudicial to both private home owners and to the environment in general.

The land

The Environment Ministry, through its Costas (Coasts) Department, will expropriate two plots of land in Marbella to create coastal parkland and prevent further building near the beaches of the municipality.

Dunas de Artola

Land area: Approximately 11 hectares.

Characteristics: Beside the Dunes of Artola, an area that has been placed under an official protection order for being of high ecological value. This is one of the few areas of sand dunes on the Malaga coastline.

Object: To use the expropriated land for public parking, with wooden ramped access to the beach to preserve the sand dunes.

El Pinillo

Land area: 12.3 hectares.

Characteristics: Behind the El Pinillo beach, very close to the town centre and the entrance arch to Marbella. There are the remains of old dunes, in a very bad state of preservation.

Object: To restore the area to its original state, laying down pathways to the beach and building sporting facilities. This could become an important leisure area for the people of Marbella.

The developers started work on 58 flats before the plans were given their final approval by the local authority

Permission for the basic project was granted by the former council under Mayor Marisol Yagüe. The 58 home scheme was planned on land designated for building according to the 1986 PGOU. So far so good. Nevertheless this summer the interim committee approved the final plans this summer on the condition that the developers produce a telecommunications project, necessary before the start of the work.

However a routine inspection revealed that building work actually started before July when the project had still not received the final go ahead.

Permission withdrawn

Earlier this month the interim committee agreed to withdraw planning permission and last week the site was sealed off. The development comprises three blocks; one is already finished, one half finished and the third still without foundations. “The basic project is legal but they can’t start work until the final plans have been approved; something which hasn’t happened in this case”, explains Rafael Duarte, currently in charge of Town Planning.

Inspections also revealed that Metrovacesa S.A. had been piling up earth on another plot of land in the same area without permission.

The order to seal off the site has been reported to the electricity and water companies “so that they can immediately cut off the supply”, added Duarte.

Legalisation in exchange for compensation

The Marbella Town Hall Planning Office run by the Junta de Andalucía and directed by José María Ruiz Povedano has proposed a possible solution for the eight hotels and around 600 businesses currently operating without opening licences. The idea is for the establishments in question to legalise their situation by offering compensation to the Town Hall, either by providing land for public amenities or through financial payments. The same formula has been proposed to legalise 85 per cent of the town’s irregular housing.

More from the town hall scandal in Marbella. As the tapes are released that expose the conversations between Rocca and Marbella's mayor Yague. Conversations reveal that Yagüe followed instructions given by the former planning consultant even when it came to her own career

In one long conversation with Yagüe last January, Roca brings up the subject of next year’s local elections. “Think about it tonight and then we’ll decide what we’re going to do”, advises Roca. “I have decided but in any case I’ll always do what you think is best. (...) Of course I’ll tell you what I think but once again I’ll do what you say. (...) Good or bad, whatever you say, if it’s best to say yes or to say no, or to find someone else, I’ll always do what you say,” responded Yagüe.

Criticism

In the same conversation Roca refers to Yagüe’s fellow councillors: “You’re on your own, with the colleagues you’ve got”. “In normal circumstances they wouldn’t get a job as caretaker in their block of flats. (...) Unfortunately we’ve got the lowest and the weakest in the world”.

Sometimes the tone between the two was not quite so pleasant. “Call the auditor and call Leopoldo and tell them I want it now, and I mean now”, ordered Juan Antonio Roca on one occasion. And the Mayor would obey, more aware than anyone of the true hierarchy within the local authority. The businessmen who dealt with the Town Hall also knew who they had to deal with. In a conversation with Ismael Pérez Peña, the Traffic councillor, Victoriano Rodríguez, also explained things very clearly. “It has to be Roca, that woman’s no good at all. (...) She says darling, darling, darling to everything and we don’t get any further than that”.

In another conversation Roca speaks to the Local Police chief Rafael del Pozo, apparently referring to the case of the builder who claimed that Yagüe owed him a million euros for building work on her house: “She’s shitting herself, she calls me and says, what can we do? and I say well take a million euros and pay him, what else can you do”. “She’s dropped us in it, you’ll see”, replied Del Pozo.

Yagüe says she “just signed”

She didn’t know what was going on. The former Mayor of Marbella, Marisol Yagüe, told the police when she was arrested on March 29th that she never intervened in the negotiation of deals at Marbella Town Hall, despite being the person with the highest position there. According to her statement she never took part in the negotiation of planning permission or contracts. Her role, was merely to “sign the documents, receive visitors, go to official acts and other tasks related to the position”.

She told the judge that it was Juan Antonio Roca who advised her on all matters related to planning permission. She admitted to her own private business with Ismael Pérez Peña but claimed she was unaware of his relationship with the Town Hall.

She also maintained that she paid Pérez Peña for the vehicles used by herself and her family.

Revealing transcripts of telephone calls between the main protagonists of the Marbella Town Hall corruption scandal have been included as evidence in the Malaya case details

“A” and “B”

On January 26th Juan Antonio Roca, allegedly at the centre of the web of corruption and the real boss at the Town Hall, met with Ismael Pérez Peña in a central Madrid hotel. Roca asks Pérez to lend him money and the conversation centres around whether the money would be “A” or “B” , in other words, through the books or under the table. “I could really do with 200 million in A, but I’ll make do with 350 million in B”, said Roca, referring to pesetas.

The two men agreed that Roca would send someone for the money on January 30th. That afternoon the police intercepted a black Audi A6 near Pérez Peña’s firm in Madrid. In the vehicle were Jaime Hachuel and óscar Alberto Benavente Pérez, considered by the judge as two of Roca’s frontmen. On the back seat of the car was a bag containing two million euros. They said it was to buy land in Huelva.

That same day the police intercepted a conversation between óscar Benavente and Ismael Pérez Peña in which the former tells the latter that the payment has been foiled. “Don’t get me involved in anything”, was Pérez’s reaction.

Portillo

This was not the only payment that was interrupted by the police investigation. In February the contract to run the local bus service was put out to tender. The Portillo bus company, which had been running the service since 1997, was the only firm to bid for the contract and the recorded conversations revealed that the terms were arranged beforehand with the company. In a conversation with the manager of Portillo, Julio de Marco, the local Traffic councillor, Victoriano Rodríguez (released with charges last week) asked for 390,000 euros on top of the official sum required. Portillo tried to bring the sum down but eventually it was agreed, with Roca having the final say, that the money would be delivered on Thursday March 30th. One of the conversations captures De Marco asking Rodríguez, “How shall we make the delivery? Part of the money is coming from Malaga and part from Madrid.”

The delivery was never made. On Wednesday March 29th Victoriano Rodríguez was arrested. Operation Malaya had started.

Permission

During the investigation the police also listened in on the telephone conversation in which Roca gave verbal permission to the businessman, Tomás Oliva, the owner of La Cañada shopping centre, to extend the premises to house tennis courts and a cafeteria. “Can I do it or not”, asked Oliva on February 23rd. “No problem”, was Roca’s reply. “But will you give me a licence?” asked Oliva. “Yes no problem. Go ahead”, Roca told his friend.

Property

While Juan Antonio Roca claimed that all the property seized during Operación Malaya belonged to “friends”, the investigation into his alleged money laundering network led detectives to properties located in ten Spanish provinces, including Murcia, Madrid and Huelva as well as Malaga and Cadiz.

“I have the habit of confusing what is mine with what I am dealing with”, Roca told the judge in one of his statements, implying that he was merely the administrator of some of the estates. He claimed that many of his companies belonged to his lawyers and added that he was often referred to as “the boss” because of his strong personality.

Meanwhile just three weeks ago two more diaries and a folder allegedly belonging to Roca were handed in to the judge after they were found in the Planning building where the former consultant had his offices. So far Roca’s papers have played a central role in the investigation, especially when it came to the second phase of arrests after which 14 former councillors and 16 business people were charged. The former planning consultant’s notes have given away important information as to sums of money received and how they were distributed among the councillors.

G. Marcos: “Money for papers”

The former Deputy Mayor, Isabel García Marcos, who has repeatedly proclaimed her innocence since her release last week, also had her telephone conversations recorded by the detectives.

In fact it was the contents of conversations between her and former councillor José Jaén and Marisol Yagüe, along with the 378,000 euros found in cash at her home, that incriminated her in the Malaya case.

“I only work on what I’m getting paid for”, she told Jaén on one occasion. In another conversation she stated that the only difference between her and Roca was that he charged and didn’t achieve anything while she was also paid very well but got results.“If they don’t pay I don’t sort out papers for anybody”, she told Jaén.

The police maintain that García Marcos copied Roca’s methods and offered herself as an alternative. In fact other conversations have revealed that Ismael Pérez Peña had started to deal with Marcos over the tow truck deal, something Roca was not pleased about.

The interim committee has already suggested issuing provisional licences. Action will be taken against businesses operating in premises unauthorised for such activity

The Interim Committee is still waiting for an answer from the technical advice committee at the provincial government, to their request to issue provisional opening licences. According to Fidel Fernández-Nieto, responsible for Health and Safety at the Town Hall, the hotels which do not have all their paperwork in order are: Guadalpín and Guadalpín Banús (owned by the developers Aifos); Marbella Playa and Pinomar (part of the Hoteles Playa chain) and Locrimar and Barceló Golf.

All of these tourist complexes fail to comply with the current municipal legislation: some are bigger than the size authorised by the Town Hall, in the case of Hotel Guadalpín, whereas others are built on land designated for other uses. Nevertheless the Hotel Guadalpín, which the interim committee is already investigating with a view to revoking its licence, is the only establishment with authorisation from the Andalusian authorities to operate as a hotel. According to Fernández-Nieto, instead of an opening licence “Hotel Guadalpín has a letter from the previous municipal government which according to them is legal”.

In the case of the 600 businesses, the majority of them, according to the UGT union, are located on the ground floor of buildings which do not have the necessary permits. The committee plans to continue reviewing the situation and any business which does not comply with the current municipal regulations will be penalised, which according to the Health and Safety chief means, in most cases, a fine.

The president, Martín Reyes, was quick to point out “how complicated” the situation was. There are more than 1,200 workers affected, according to the UGT union, and the sudden closure of these premises will result in great hardship for these workers and their families not to mention the negative effect that this will have on tourism. According to the president, the crux of the matter lies in finding a solution which does not cause even more damage than the problem they are trying to solve. “Our obligation is obviously to comply with the current laws and regulations but we must also be sensitive to the problems of the inhabitants of Marbella,” added Martín Reyes. Manuel Ferrer, provincial president of the UGT union, reminded all parties of the importance of maintaining these jobs and asked the interim committee and the judicial system to find the best possible legal situation for the workers.

Union informs workers of situation

Europa Press

The trades union Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO.) handed out a thousand information leaflets among employees of Marbella hotels and establishments with no opening licence on Wednesday. The leaflets explained the situation the firms were in and what the union planned to do to make sure the establishments would be able to stay in business and to save the around 1,500 jobs affected.

With the present scenario on Spain’s roads it’s not difficult to see why the Government has given priority to its high speed railways. Fuel prices are ever-increasing, hold-ups are frequent and the country’s road accident rate is one of the highest in Europe.

December 2007 is the date that has been given for the end of the work on Malaga’s AVE high speed train lines, which will go underground from the edge of the city to the main Renfe station. Once this line is operational the journey time between Malaga and Madrid will be reduced to two and a half hours (it currently takes four and half hours, almost the same time as the journey by road).

The service will not be cheap. The Malaga to Madrid trip will cost around 69 euros, as much as a plane ticket, but with the advantage that the train journey takes you from city centre to city centre and you do not have to arrive two hours in advance to check in. Meanwhile in less than five months the Antequera to Cordoba high speed line will be open reducing the journey time to Madrid to just over three and a half hours.

Cordoba

The completion of the city’s AVE lines at the end of next year will also mean that journey time between Malaga and Cordoba will be reduced to just 55 minutes. In the mean time the opening of Antequera’s Santa Ana station at the end of this year will reduce the Malaga-Cordoba link to an hour and a half, the stretch between Antequera and Cordoba being covered in just 40 minutes.

The following year, in 2008, we will be able to travel by rail from Malaga to Barcelona in less than six hours. The high speed connection will mean that the journey time is reduced by half as the trip currently takes 13 hours. The night-time service to Barcelona will also gain speed, with the new “hotel trains” leaving Malaga at 11 p.m. and arriving at their destination at around seven o’clock the next morning.

Seville

The year 2010 is the date set for the opening of the Malaga-Seville high speed line on which work is already under way. The AVE will reduce the journey time between the two cities to just 75 minutes (half what it takes today) with a train leaving in each direction every hour. Renfe calculates that this service will be used by 2.5 million passengers a year.

Finally the AVE trains are also due to link Malaga with Granada - in one hour and five minutes - some time in 2010. Work on this new line (at present there is no direct rail link between the two cities) is still in its early stages.

AVE connections

Malaga-Madrid: In service: end 2007. Journey time: two and a half hours. Estimated fare: 69 euros.

Malaga-Cordoba: In service: end 2007. Journey time: 55 minutes. (The same line will link Antequera and Malaga in 25 minutes.)

Malaga-Barcelona: In service: 2008. Journey time: less than six hours during the day; around eight hours on night “hotel-train”.

Malaga-Seville: In service: 2010. Journey time: 75 minutes.

Malaga-Granada: In service: end 2010. Journey time: 65 minutes.

Most of our summer tourists stay in hotels during the month of July. Apartments, camp-sites and houses in the countryside are used less during the height of the summer season

Others prefer to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds and find more open spaces to rest in the for the duration of their holidays. Rural tourism is the answer for them, although relatively speaking, not many chose this option during the month of June in the province of Malaga: only 2,700. But the rural tourism industry is still in its infancy in this part of the world, and has a great future. Many old farmhouses around Andalucía have already been turned into small rural hotels and many houses, once abandoned, are now snug holiday homes and apartments.

Campers

Another excellent way of taking a holiday is to go camping, and in June of this year, 16,000 people did just that in the province of Malaga. It is cheap, healthy and it provides close contact with nature. But as many people are in favour of camping as are against it. The biggest problem for campers is that it is allowed in very few places throughout the province outside designated camping sites, and these tend to be packed during the summer months.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, almost 90,000 more people chose this form of holiday in the province during the month of July than in the same period last year. This increase means that, although tourism numbers were up throughout the province this year, the higher increase in the number of campers logically means that fewer people stayed in the more traditional hotels and apartments this July.

The overall increase in overnight stays in the province with respect to last year was 5.1 per cent. The biggest increase was during Holy Week, with an increase in overnight stays of 17.6 per cent in April of this year. One of the reasons for the increase is that Holy Week fell in March of last year, which was too early for many people to take holiday. Of these overnight stays, 37.7 per cent were in the province of Malaga.

Gonzalo sánchez and Auxiliadora Palma, two weeks in an apartment

“We find what we’re looking for here: tranquillity beside the beach”

Teacher Gonzalo Sánchez and his wife, surveyor Auxiliadora Palma, are a married couple from Montilla, in the province of Cordoba, and they have been taking their holidays on the Costa del Sol for many years past. Two years ago, they came with their in-laws and some of their brothers and sisters, and this year they only brought their one-year-old daughter Aurora with them. The holiday consists of two weeks in Torremolinos, in an apartment they have rented. “We find exactly what we are looking for every year here, which is tranquillity, proximity to the beach and to be close to the town,” they tells us. Another attraction of Torremolinos is that it is close enough to Montilla to make the car journey easy for the baby.

“We stay in an apartment because it is most comfortable for us,” says Gonzalo. Although they have always tended to take the same type of holiday every year, eating out quite a lot, they have decided to eat in the apartment more this year, because of the baby. The nearest supermarket is within easy walking distance. “We still go out to eat once in a while, but the prices this year are prohibitive,” says Auxiliadora. Gonzalo remembers two years back, when they ate in restaurants every day, and despite the many family members that had with them, it worked out fairly cheap. “The other day they charged us 40 euros for two drinks and three plates of food,” he says.

It is true that restaurant prices have risen since the introduction of the euro some years ago, especially in the more expensive establishments. But that will not prevent this Cordoba couple from coming back again next year.

Jordi Repiso and Gemma Martín a week in a hotel

“We chose this because we don’t have to do anything”

Jordi Repiso and Gemma Martín are 25 and 23 years old, respectively, and both are from Barcelona City. It would seem surprising that a young couple like them – both students – should save up throughout the year for a holiday in a four-star hotel in Southern Spain, but this is exactly what they do. As Jordi says: “If we have the money for it, a four-star is better than a two-star hotel.” They came to Torremolinos to have a relaxing holiday and leave behind the routine of their daily lives with a few days beside the beach. “Well, the beach is Gemma’s idea. I don’t like that part of it so much,” he admits.

Jordi studies engineering and Gemma is a student of administration. Neither of them like crowded discotheques or night-time bars. “We just go out to have a few drinks on one of the bar terraces,” they say. In any case, there is not much money left over after they have paid their hotel bill. They pay half-board, with breakfast and dinner included, and this means they have lunch out every day. “We base our night-time entertainment on what we have spent on lunch every day,” they tell us.

They have planned only one excursion to a water park while here this time, and as it happens, it was a last-minute decision. “We like to make one visit while on holidays, but we usually make the arrangements as we go along. It is more a question of what we can afford rather than what we might plan,” says Jordi.

The one thing they are sure of is that they will not be visiting the feria in Malaga. They came to relax, and there are too many people for that at the feria, they say. They wish to be completely rested for their return to Barcelona, and to be able to drive back without losing points on their driving licences.

Agencies allegedly offer houses for sale without checking the paperwork. Seprona will take all cases of illegal construction on country land to court.

Nearly all the agencies in question are based in the Guadalhorce Valley or Antequera areas, although there are cases on the Costa del Sol and in the Axarquía. The investigations have also uncovered cases of houses built illegally on country land being sold with title deeds for a plot of non-building land along with a private contract for the sale of the house on that site, “which is not legally valid as the construction is illegal when on land classed in Spanish as no urbanizable”, added Seprona.

Enquiries have also revealed cases of municipal employees issuing brand new homes with certificates that state that the property is of a certain age. Everybody is trying to justify that their homes were built before the new Andalusian planning law, known as the LOUA, came into force in 2002, because they think that makes them legal, “but that is not so”, stress the Seprona sources.

Others aim to prove that their houses are more than 20 years old which affords them “consolidated status”, but this can easily be checked by consulting the Junta de Andalucía’s computer software which uses high resolution aerial photographs.

In the last three years Seprona has reported more than 2,000 cases of illegal construction to the relevant administrative tribunals. Nevertheless, as many of these cases end up in the criminal courts, Seprona has decided to start these proceedings itself. The following steps are taken when it is suspected that a property under construction is illegal: Seprona verifies that the property in question has no municipal planning permission and is being built on land not designated for building. They then ask for the names of the landowner, the builder, the developer and the building plans plus the site’s health and safety policy. Furthermore the names of all the labourers working on the site at the time of inspection are sent to the Provincial Employment Inspection Department to make sure their employer is complying with the law.

So far Seprona has sent two planning cases to the criminal court. The first dates back to November 2005 and concerns ten prefabricated timber houses in Monda. The second case was brought against Tolox Town Hall for the falsification of land re-zoning documents.