ISSUE 634 • 27th April - 3rd May 2018
EST 2005
Law of the land
Traffic will be diverted
By Benjamin Park
WORKS: The new road that will divert traffic.
CREDIT: PABLO F.J./FLICKR
SPAIN’S Supreme Court has ruled that Carboneras Council must change the qualification of the land which houses the controversial Algarrobico Hotel to non-developable land. Spain’s high court annulled the General Plan of Urban Planning (PGOU) put in place by Carboneras Council in regards to the Algarrobico site, which means it must now be classed as undevelopable land. However the promoter of the hotel built on the site, Azata, still insists that the 2002 project “was in line with the urban development requirements established at that time, from the location and surface, to the height and colour of the building.” The company claim that the 1985 Plan for the Tourist Development of the Andalucian Coast allowed the approval of the urban
MILESTONE DECISION: The Supreme Court has outlawed construction on the site where the Algarrobico Hotel sits. planning for the Algarrobico site in 1988. The site was ratified in 1997 and again in 1998, with the plan having been in place for 13 years when Azata del Sol eventually purchased the land in 1999. In a statement, Azata said that the adaptation to urban planning regulations led to the “the granting of the different licences required by all the administrations involved, local, re-
gional and state.” The company added: “The company did it (building the hotel) legitimately trusting the correct performance of public administrations that mark the current regulations.
“The Supreme Court shows, once again, that public action did not adequately comply with higher standards, but it is not the actions of Azata del Sol that are prosecuted in these proceedings.”
THE Junta de Andalucia regional government has confirmed that traffic will be diverted on parts of the A-352 from Vera to Garrucha as part of continuing road improvement works. Territorial delegate of Development and Housing in Almeria, Antonio Martinez told local media that the works on the A-3, which will affect a two-kilometre stretch between points 8 and 10 of the A-352, will “divert traffic through the new road already executed and clear the current road.” The new roadway will support traffic in both directions while the dual carriageway is running on the current road and is not expected to increase travel time. The change in circulation, which is expected to last for three months, comes as part of the road improvement works which resumed in February and are eventually expected to cost an estimated €12.3 million once completed.