Posts Tagged algarrobico
Public Prosecutor archives “Algarrobico” criminal case against public officials
The Public Prosecutor (Fiscalia) has decided not to accept a case prosecuting the townhall of Carboneras and the Junta de Andalucía for initially permitting the construction of the illegal hotel “El Algarrobico”, despite criticism from judges in related cases of the way the original construction was allowed to go ahead.
Various ecologist groups had placed criminal charges against Carboneras townhall and the Junta de Andalucía alleging incompetence, conflict of interest and outright bribery. They also cited a statement made by the instructing judge who ordered the paralysation of the building works, in which he stated that there were clear signs that the law had been breeched by public administrations.
However, the Fiscalia has announced that they are unable to see a reason to prosecute and have decided to archive the case for lack of evidence. Ecologistas en Accion have already announced their intention to appeal to Fiscal General del Estado, the general prosecutor of the State.
Clemente García, provincial delegate of the Environment in Almería, said that it was clear that all public administrations had done their work correctly at all times, but insisted that it was still the Junta’s intention to knock down the hotel as soon as it was legal to do so. “The Algarrobico is stopped and closed” he assured reporters.
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Audiencia Nacional reaffirms that Algarrobico is on illegal land
The Audiencia Nacional (National Audience, or Supreme court) has found against Azata, the promotors of the Algarrobico hotel, in a ruling that appears to:
- Reaffirm that the hotel was illegally built on protected land;
-That the promotors are not entitled to any compensation for the modifications to the Partial Plan of the area.
Basically, Azata claimed that since the area was given protected status after they brought the land they should be entitled to compensation for the hotel. But, as the judges pointed out, the land was never urbanizable, so no compensation could be forthcoming. Another nail in the coffin, but still nobody has the cojones to just send in the bulldozers.
ideal.es or translated version.
IU claims victory as Judge paralyses modification of natural park Cabo de Gata
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The Izquierda Unida is claiming victory today as the Supreme Court of Andalucia ordered the suspension of the PORN (Plan de Ordenacion de Recursos Naturales, Plan for the Ordenation of Natural Resouces) for Almeria, which the IU claimed gave the company Azata del Sol clear permission to continue with it’s (currently, allegedly) illegal hotel El Algarrobico.
It seems that the plan made the beach where El Algarrobico is situated “urbanisable”. Which meant that El Algarrobico hotel could then open, as it would be situated on urbanisable land. Despite the fact that it is currently clearly within the natural park of Ca bo de Gata, which is protected land and (supposedly) untouchable.
The Supreme Court of Andalucia agreed with Izquierda Unida (which includes the Green party) and said that the current implementation of the PORN was “incompatible with previous decrees”. It ordered the immediate suspension of the PORN and the return to the previous (circa 1994) plan until it could be drawn up afresh.
The Junta has announced its intention to appeal to Madrid against this decision, despite the fact that they seem to have been caught red handed in, if not corruption, then certainly a very dubious decision. Remember that the POTALA (overall strategy plan for the area) clearly marks the area as “natural park”, and the area under question has been natural park for over 20 years.
Manuel Chaves “welcomes” the Algarrobico judgement
President for life of Andalucia, Manuel Chaves, has said in a statement that he welcomes the judgement against the disputed hotel in Carboneras, El Algarrobico.
“The important thing is to understand that this ruling gives the right of the matter to the Junta de Andalucia. I have not yet had time to read the ruling, but it gets to the rights and bottom of the matter and it is the rights that the Junta de Andalucia has said all along. Anything that speeds up the demolition of the El Algarrobico building coincides with the desires of the Junta”.
He said at a press conference. The man is obsessed with knocking down buildings. I wonder what Freud would make of it?
I wonder what he thinks of the ruling once he read it and saw what the Judge had to say about the Junta? In other news, Carboneras town hall has confirmed it is appealing against the ruling and says that the comments on it’s administration of the licences were unfounded. The opposition PP party have called on the Mayor to resign, and say they are looking into a vote of no confidence in his administration.
Algarrobico “100% illegal” rules Judge Riviera
Judge Riviera, our local gun toting wild west sentence swinging sherrif up in town, has proclaimed another one of his excellent “against the big boys” judgments with respects to the the disputed Hotel Algarrobico.
In his sentence he has ruled that the permits granted by the town hall of Carboneras to allow the construction of the hotel were invalid and illegal, as the Ayuntamiento was going against the very letter of several regional and national laws, of which they were fully aware, ranging from the protection of the area as natural park, the Ley de Costas (the law forbidding construction within 100m of the high tide mark), and ignoring the “Plan Parcial” of the area as approved at the time.
He reaffirms that the permits should never have been issued, and raises the question of corruption or abuse of public office in the issuing of the permits, and allowing of the initial construction, both by the Ayuntamiento of Carboneras and the Junta de Andalucia. This is very unusual in a judicial sentence, and hopefully should lead to an independent investigation by central government into the subject.
He further states that the promoter “if not exploiting or encouraging these errors”, was at the very least “taking advantage” of these glaring errors and lack of public duty by the local and regional authorities.
His ruling states that the building is illegal, was illegal, and will be illegal, and furthermore in “C1” natural park. This will, if there is enough political will, open the route for the Junta to request that the Police knock the hotel down without compensation. Hey, there’s already a precedent in this area for this, remember the Priors?
Of course, we are talking about a large company with political cronies in the PSOE and not a quiet retired English couple in the autumn of their years, so no doubt nobody will sign the demolition paperwork and the refusal of the Junta to carry out its legal and moral duties will allow Azata (the Algarrobico promoters and builders) to mount a defense and waste even more of our taxes on repetitious and irrelevant legal defenses. Much like Astrids electric pylon and Endesa, the last time that Judge Riviera stated that something was 100% illegal and should be knocked down within 15 days – it’s still there and nobody from the Junta seems too bothered about sending in the bulldozers?
NO end in sight for El Algarrobico
After the uproar yesterday about the proposed 100 million euro payment by the Ministry of the Environment to Azata, the owners of El Algarrobico hotel in Carboneras, the Ministry (which, remember, is central government in Madrid, not the Junta de Andalucia, who seems to have washed their hands of the matter) has hastily backtracked.
They have announced the the price of 100 million was set some months ago after an independent firm surveyed the installations and ground (known as a tasación in Spanish), but this survey was for “orientation purposes only”. They further said that the agreement announced yesterday with Azata was simply that they would offer to buy the whole installation to speed everything up, and that Azata agreed to this, but that no price had been set. The Ministry has now ordered a new tasación be carried out, probably mid September, and said that it expects to pay only a fraction of the 100 million previously quoted.
Azata is, understandably, annoyed, and accused the Ministry of simply trying to hide the fact that central government doesn’t have enought cash to pay the previous valuation. It also said that it cannot understand how the Ministry expects a second survey to come to a different conclusion from the first, as nothing has changed and the prices are set by an independent panel of experts. Azata concluded that it hoped that the Ministry would “play by the rules” but that it would not accept a substantially lowered valuation.
Meanwhile, the whole sorry process is still going through the courts, and the Junta de Andalucia says that it will not take a decision until the courts have decided upon the legality of the hotel. However, Manuel Chaves, President apparantly for life of Andalucia, did publically say a while back that the hotel was illegal and will never open, so hopefully his subordinates will be too scared of embarrassing their lord and master to do anything but knock the blasted thing down.
In conclusion, if Azata accepts the Ministrys’ offer, central Government will buy it and knock it down. If they don’t, it’s up to the Junta de Andalucia to keep pressing the matter through the courts until a final, binding decision is made. Which could be a while, the way things are going.
End in sight for El Algarrobico
The Ministry of the Environment and Azata, the promotors of the infamous El Algarrobico hotel in Carboneras (the one built illegally on the beach? Occupied by Greenpeace?) have announced that they have come to an agreement where the Ministry buys the hotel and surrounding installations for, wait for it! – 100 000 000€. One hundred million euros. For building an illegal eyesore on a beach and in a natural park.
“Informed Sources” have already leaked the news that the ministry is expecting this price to triple by the time the hotel has come down and the surrounding area restored to it’s previous glory. That is, as Salvemos Mojacar pointed out, about €10-€12 for every family in Spain.
Salvemos Mojacar, the local pressure group, has already announced its intention to appeal in the courts against this decision, restating its position that the hotel is illegal and should be expropiated without any costs being paid to the promotor.
The Ministry of the Environment, which has not yet officially commented on the decision, seems determined to take the iniciative in the matter, and wants an end to the whole sorry saga. Hence the decision to have the whole project surveyed and the payment of the market cost.
The promotor (Azata) has restated that while they would prefer to finish off the hotel, thus helping stimulate the local economy, the price covers their construction costs and they are willing to accept it. (Probably over the bloody moon). They also restated their position that when the hotel was planned and permission sought, the hotel was legal and it was only after a change in the law that the land the hotel was on was protected, so they have been penalised unfairly. However, almost all of the judicial decisions taken so far contradict this position, and say that construction should never have been allowed to go ahead.
The Junta de Andalucia says it is still awaiting the outcome of the trials in progress and refused to comment on the situation. The Conserjera in charge of the case, one Cinta Castilla, “apparantly trying to avoid the situation” (according to one paper) said she had never been invited to any meeting between Azata and the Ministry. Both of them, however, have complained that Cinta never turned up to any meeting, despite being asked to.
The opposition PP in the Junta said that this position was incomprehensible since President of Andalucia Miguel Chaves had publically stated that the hotel was illegal and would never be opened – so how can the Junta now say they have no power over the final decision?
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