Posts Tagged potala
The future of Mojácar…. gazing into a crystal ball
After a pleasent evening, during which we were chatting about the future of the area, I got out the old POTALA plans and had a bit of a think.
After all, what does the future have to hold for this area? Irrespective of what we Brits think or do (we are, after all, in a minority amongst immigrants to the province – there are 40% more Romanians, 60% more Moroccans than Brits here) our benevolent Junta has a plan for this area, and that is what is going to happen. Even if the PSOE is kicked out (I’m not making THAT prediction!), the money is slowly being freed up to make this happen, and the laws have already been changed to stop anything else happening.
So I’m going to make a few predictions. Let’s see what happens. I’m going to treat the four regions of Almería (Levante, Almanzora, Poniente, Campo de Tabernas) as unified regions for this purpose. Hey, nobody’s paying me to be accurate. Imagine that you’re a planner, and you see all these lovely blocks on a map, and how they interconnect. Nice and clean, isn’t it?
Levante
With the new infrastructure, and the new regional zoning plan (POTALA), I can see the current Mojácar / Turre axis gradually withering away as a destination, to be replaced with Vera Playa / Garrucha (now with drinking water, straight from the tap!). All the new development plans for the area are concentrated on that region – the AVE station, the proposed Alcampo shopping mall, two other shopping centres, strong road connection to Vera as the local market town, Garrucha as the marina, Villaricos as the other marina, and the beaches, hotels and general tourism resorts there. And remember, several high ranking ministers (including ZP himself!) have holiday homes on Vera playa. (Hence the AVE station there).
Mojácar village itself is currently destined to be turned into a quaint day trip out for local holidaymakers, probably with even more souvenir shops and overpriced restaurants than we have now. There are only three night bars left, with one apparently going (thank you Rosmari!) before summer. No new licenses are being issued.
Remember – Mojácar development is currently limited. We have Macenas along one end, which may help in pulling tourists to that end of the strip, but the center bit appears destined to all inclusive holiday packages in ever older hotels (no new ones being planned for years, they’re all down in Vera or Llano Central). And with the exception of a rather peculiar football field, there are no developments planned, or even pencilled in.
Inland, we see Vera becoming the local market town, probably pulling quite a bit of power away from Huercal. Antas inland becomes ever more agricultural (greenhouses?) with the connection between Antas and Vera becoming a somewhat more “third industry” zone. Huercal / Pulpí probably becomes more agricultural.
The bits between Los Gallardos, Garrucha and Vera slowly gets filled in with developments and resorts.
Bédar turns towards rural tourism. New rural hotels? Cabrera is finally turned into a natural park and not much happens. Villages above Bédar slowly wither away even faster than they are now.
Carboneras turns into a much more industrial zone. The new port, the power station, the desalination plant and now high tech industry (wind farm assembly, etc) are installed there. Probably a motorway up to the A7 down to the port and it turns into the central import / export hub for the east of the province.
Almanzora
The new motorway links the A7 to Baza via the valley. So the top end of the valley (Cantoria onwards) becomes much more industrial, marble development and the like. Quarries abound, probably taken out via Carboneras. Not much else as it’s too far away from anywhere to develop an industry that isn’t artisan (ie, marble production – they ship raw marble into the area, craft it and ship out the finished product).
The lower end becomes the main population zone, with a huge new commercial centre around Arboleas and then mini towns all slowly linking up into a central urban zone, just above Huercal and Vera.
Illegal homes? Most of them get legalised after paying a lot for infrastructure and “taxes”. Couple of dozen get knocked down.
Campos de Tabernas
The region “above”, in the hills above Tabernas is, I’m afraid, destined to wither. Nothing there, bad communications. Possibly the option of developing rural tourism but nothing too mass scale.
Poniente
The economic powerhouse of the province. Almería – El Ejido as the centre, with Roquetas / Aguadulce as its’ playground. Greenhouses keep developing, as do secondary industry there. Probably more industrial units will setup around Huercal.
Almería turns into more of a city. Almerimar turns into the playground of El Ejido, with a large new development behind it, and develops up to El Ejido.
The valley up to Granada turns into a rural tourism resort with lots of guesthouses and the like.
Níjar, apart from greenhouses and Cabo de Gata, turns into an interesting central axis for the whole province. Splot in the middle, it has good road, (soon) rail, port and airport access. A large new “dry port” is planned for Níjar, where people swing in content on a mass scale and then pushed out to different local points over small transport links.
Ahhh…. the crystal ball is getting misty from my breath. I shall take it away to clean it and may try again later. Or call on my new 906 number (4,5€ plus IVA a minute!)
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Llano Central one step closer
Here’s a name that would gladden the heart of any Stalinist bureaucrat:
Orden de 10 de noviembre de 2009, por la que se acuerda la formulación del Plan de Ordenación Intermunicipal de la zona de reserva del Llano Central del Levante Almeriense, de acuerdo con el Plan de Ordenación del Territorio del Levante Almeriense, aprobado por Decreto 26/2009, de 3 de febrero, de la Junta de Andalucía.
No wonder lawyers charge so much.
ANYWAY.
The order has been published for the creation of the plan which, ignoring townhalls and residents, will decide where best to put golf courses, hotels and 36,000 cheaply built homes in our area. Hurrah!
Anyway – does anyone give a monkey’s, or shall I shut up about it?
Here we go: Intermunicipal Planning Order published for Llano Central
Ecologistas en Accion ask Supreme Court (And) to cancel POTALA
Ecologistas en Accion have filed a submission at the Supreme Court of Andalucia (TSJA) to cancel the POTALA plan, saying that it is far removed from the official model of “compact Mediterranean cities” that the Junta of Andalucia is supposed to be behind.
They argue that the plan to build up to 60,000 houses (35,000 in the Llano Central, 10,000 in Ballabona, 18,000 in El Puntazo, etc) are unsustainable, against all logic and not desired by the locals (right on!).
To be watched with interest, me thinks. Ecologistas en Accion have turned into the de facto opposition here in Andalucía, given as every single political party are in each others pockets…
Story here from Europa Press (Spanish) or translated into English.
Latest POTALA plans
Here’s a link to the latest version of the POTALA plans as published on the Junta de Andalucia website:
(Thanks to Mick Petty for forwarding the link, I missed this!)
BOJA publishes plans for the POTALA and creates steering committee
Here we go. The BOJA (Official state bulletin for the Junta de Andalucia) has published approval of the POTALA and has created a steering committee to see it through to the bitter end.
Spain has so many layers of bureaucratic nonsense (even the Diputacion de Almeria admits that there is no real need for the Diputacion de Almeria) that it’s quite a big steering committee. Hopefully done that way on purpose so nobody has to take the can for the huge mess the whole plan will be.
More from thereader.es
Junta backtracks and authorises 10,000 new houses in La Ballabona, Huercal Overa
The Junta de Andalucía has had a spectacular volte face and has declared the “La Ballabona” luxury city project “in the Interest of Tourism” (de interés turístico). 10,000 houses, a golf course, associated services and even a casino are part of the plans according to La Voz de Almería.
The La Ballabona project (which is that vast amount of citrus trees between Antas and Huercal Overa – look for the petrol station of the same name) was assumed to have been cancelled after the Junta, in 2007, published a new law forbidding the construction of homes based around a golf course. The idea was to create fewer resorts in the middle of nowhere and encourage sensible urban planning around pre-existent urban nuclei. All golf courses were to be built for public use.
It seems that part of the reason given for allowing La Ballabona to go ahead (it’s all based around a golf course, in strict contradiction to the decree) is that it has its own water source. Of course, what nobody is saying is that the aquifer it is tapping is the same aquifer that feeds the rest of the area.
It’s worth pointing out at this point that the municipality of Huercal Overa has 16.683 people (2006 census), or aprox 7250 homes.
La Ballabona now has to go through the normal urban planning hoops, but since the Junta has given the go – ahead… I suspect the local mayor is not exactly against the plan, given that he and 5 of his councillors are currently under investigation for Urban Corruption (etc. etc. etc. – our old buddies from Dizu are there too!) and the only other hurdle is the Water Authority, who are probably delighted to be able to up the usage of their fancy new desalination plants.
La Voz de Almería reckons that other “paralysed” projects in the area – such as Nuevo Cortijo Grande (originally 50,000 homes up in Cabrera, later cut down to 15,000), Lopez Rejas in Los Gallardos & Bedar (aprox 6,000 homes) or Sorbas Canyon in Sorbas – will now be reapplying under the same excemptions.
The POTALA contemplates the La Ballabona project, which is bloody stupid as just down the road is the Llano Central, and La Ballabona is sandwiched in between Antas industrial estate and the pig farms of Huercal.
Now, while many excuses will be coming out of Seville as to why this project is going ahead, it’s simple – it’s too big to stop and Seville knows it. Which is why Luis Caparros (better known as “Mr Bulldozer”, the Junta demolition man in the area) smiles and genuflucts and is happy that his holiday home is not in Almeria Levante.
BTW – what will the announcement of 10,000 new houses do to resale prices in this area?
“Salvemos Mojacar” takes POTALA to high court
Salvemos Mojacar has lodged an urgent appeal to the high court of Andalucía asking for a block to be placed on the macroplan for the Levante, the POTALA. It’s main arguments are that to date, none of the filings it has lodged against the plan (alegaciones) have been heard or replied to; S.M. claims that over 30 of these filings have been made and ignored, and that several protected areas (such as Torre del Rayo, in Carboneras, currently a protected area of special interest) are designated as new urban centres.
It’s worth pointing out that under the plan the first 200 meters of beachfront (from the high tide mark) falls under public domain, slightly more than the limit contemplated in the Ley de Costas. So if your house is within 200m of the high tide mark – Congratulations! You’re living in a council house!
POTALA approved
The Consejo de Gobierno of the Junta de Andalucía approved yesterday the contentious “Plan de Ordenación del Territorio del Levante Almeriense (POTALA)”, which covers an area between Los Gallardos, Turre, Mojacar, Garrucha and Vera, contemplating the construction of a city the size of Redditch, England (or Ferrol, Galicia), with some 30,000 homes. It is expected to create 130,000 jobs and has an investment of 5,000,000,000€. The name of the new city is currently “Llano Central”.
For the plans they didn’t want you to see, click here. Don’t forget that the POTALA is a regional plan ranging from Carboneras to Huercal Overa (exclusing the Almanzora valley, whatever the EuroWeekly says), and Llano Central is the macrourbanisation contemplated in the windy dry bit next to Valle del Este.
The city is expected to be comprised of 25,000 luxury homes and flats attractively placed around (public) golf courses, 5 star hotels and swimming pools. Much like El Toyo was in Almería, a place now regarded as sliding towards being considered a ghetto, with unbuilt flats, no infrastructure, raising crime and no upkeep by the authorities.
Presentation of the new industrial port in Carboneras
Tonight sees the unveiling of the plans for the new Industrial Port in Carboneras, a deep water port capable of accomodating ships of up to 100,000 tons of deadweight.
Intended to service the new industrial park at Carboneras (wind turbine blades, steel mill, some other heavy industry AND a tourist area next door, bless those urban planners!) it will take up some 20hectares and consists of a new 220 meter long terminal. It will also serve to ship drinking water out of the desalination plant should Barcelona ever get thirsty again.
Expats to march in protest march against urban abuse in Almeria
As you will know, there is a protest march organised by such AVEP, AULAN, AUAN, AUN, LSOS, Cuidadanos Europeos and others, in Almeria on the 9th of Jan through Almeria city to try to bring media attention back to the Priors case and urban abuse in general. (See programme info at Spanish Shilling or other good websites).
While not wishing to aspirations on the much lauded attempt to bring media attention back to the Priors, I am forced to wonder just how much good a march like this will do, and, indeed, if it is contraproductive in the short to medium term.
This is a march that is designed only to bring EU attention to the case, following on from the recent EU draft parlimentary resolution on Urban Abuse in Spain (blog entry here) and hopefully UK & German press attention.
But from a local perspective, and in my opinion after reading quite a bit about it in local (Spanish) press this is not going to sit well with regional politicians, who, as expats can’t vote in regional or national elections in Spain, don’t give two hoots what they think about anything. But they do care what local Spaniards and national press say. Since the economic downturn has just about killed off the expat property market, the politicians don’t need to worry about bad press back in the UK – promoters are too busy trying to stay afloat to bring any real pressure on the politicians and nobody really thinks that Brits back in the UK are going to be scared off because of a protest march (as they aren’t going anywhere until the pound pops back up).
So we’re in a situation where Brits are marching in the streets of Almeria, and the politicians are only worried about the locals. So, how are the politicians going to try to control the situation and come out smelling of roses?
First of all, and we’re seeing this now, they are trying to turn this into a Expat vs Locals situation. Once the (Spanish) press believe that it is only Expats that are affected, then they’ll stop trying to see the (mainly expat) property owners point of view. And they’re doing this by pointing out that in many cases proper legal protocol wasn’t carried out “in order to save the purchasers money – didn’t trust / didn’t have the money to pay proper lawyers, gestors, notaries that we Spanish do! So why is it our fault they were conned?”
Then they say that “the Brits were fully aware of the situation, but just thought that since they were rich immigrants they could get away with it and stuff the locals, we poor people who pay tax and live legally, so it’s their problem to sort it out”.
And so we end up in a situation where the (Spanish) press, while sympathetic, believe that it’s the purchasers fault for trying to save money on their homes in Spain, avoid the tax they should pay and brought illegal homes without carrying out proper checks because they thought they were invincible.
And don’t start on about rigorous journalistic reports in the impartial media, because that doesn’t exist. Rare is the Spanish newspaper that does not tow the party political line. Editors are easily replaceable if the proprietor doesn’t agree with his papers opinions.
And the politicians can point out, to the rare voice that asks what’s being done, to the commission being setup to survey and regulate illegal homes in the area. “Yes”, they’ll say, smugly, “the Brits are complaining, but it’s because they can’t be bothered to learn Spanish or integrate with our community – we’re sorting the problem out but they can’t even be bothered to ask what we’re doing!”
Why, I’ve even seen comments in the press that suggest that with the collapse of the pound property owners are trying to get their homes ruled illegal so that they can get out of paying the mortgage!
And so we Brits appear, marching through the streets, in a well intentioned, well organised, multi lingual protest – a lovely image that will be quickly swung around in the public mind to “whinging immigrants who tried to con local Spaniards by ignoring rules and refused to pay the same taxes I have to pay!”
And that’s why I feel the march is counterproductive for the local market (ignoring the international media attention it may -or may not- generate, which will help with the EU). But even if the EU brings pressure onto Spain, it will just increase the local sentiment of “Bloody Brits, welcomed them into my country and they’re worse than the bloody Moros“.If we’re not careful.
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