Finally, after months of procrastination, bulldozers started demolishing a development of 34 properties in the Marbella municipality last week, one of eight projects that the regional government in Seville insists must be demolished immediately.  Not only did these eight contravene current planning regulations but would also be in breach of the revised statutes, approval of which is still pending.  Clearly the regional governement is concerned that demolitions may never take place if buildings are still standing after ratification.

The Marbella Town Hall is desperate to avoid the bad publicity that would result from mass demolition orders against occupied buildings, particularly if those occupants are mostly foreigners.  The Town Hall is also keen to draw a line under this episode and seems very reluctant to do battle over occupied properties which would inevitably result in long legal cases and compensation claims.  So, to reduce the number of possible demolitions to the absolute minimum it has unilaterally decreed that only those buildings built on green zoned land and lacking any building licence are at risk, resulting in only two active demolition orders.  All other buildings, it claims, even those built in green zones, did have a building licence, albeit an illegal one in contravention of the 1986 statutes, and can be given retrospective approval.  A regional governement spokesperson says this is 'too little, too late' and it seems likely that Seville will continue to push for all eight demolitions to go ahead.

For more information on this issue please take a look at an earlier News item, filed on 04/01/2009.