The Town Hall has criticised the Junta for not carrying out an inventory of homes built illegally in the municipality 

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“People are getting more and more nervous. When they come to the Town Hall to ask about the future of their properties we don’t know what to tell them. Neither can we explain why Alcaucín has been missed out by the Junta de Andalucía when it drew up inventories of irregular buildings in most of the other municipalities in the Axarquía. The fact that the planning situation in Alcaucín is in the courts with the ‘Arcos’ case is not a valid excuse. This is unfair”. With these words the acting mayor and planning councillor, Domingo Lozano (PP), expresses the unease and concern that has been generated in Alcaucín by the regional Department of Public Works’ decision to exclude the municipality from the inventory of illegal buildings in the Axarquía. The councillor explains that the decision has been interpreted by the Town Hall as an attempt to leave the village out of the planning amnesty announced by the Junta.

“The Arcos case cannot turn Alcaucín into a village of outcasts. Only a minority of the defendants are from the municipality. We are hard-working and honest people. The majority of the property owners bought their homes in good faith, investing their savings, and now they see themselves being excluded from a process that is not being applied to us because the Junta says that local planning is in the courts”, says Lozano.

According to the councillor, the reality is that the municipality and its residents are suffering the consequences of the poor planning management of the former mayor, ex-Socialist José Manuel Martín Alba, who has since become the main defendant in the ‘Arcos’ case, and his team of councillors.

“It so happens that Alcaucín was one of the first municipalities to start the inventory, but then it was stopped by the Junta. Later we asked on as many as four occasions for the work to continue but we have only received silence for an answer. Two weeks ago we asked for help with resuming the inventory, but the Junta says it has no resources, and so we are still being pushed to one side”, points out Lozano.

The councillor goes on to say that there is a constant trickle of residents going to the Town Hall to ask about the situation of their country homes. “People are very impatient. When they are told time and time again that the Town Hall doesn’t know anything, insults are frequent. It’s not the owners’ fault; they want solutions, and the Junta, which also has its share of the responsibility, doesn’t even want to help us do the inventory”, continues the acting mayor.

In the municipality of Alcaucín, where there is a registered population of around 3,000, it is estimated that there are between 1,600 and 1,800 irregular properties on land not designated for building, according to the Town Hall. This figure should be added to the 12,760 properties already counted by the Junta de Andalucía in 22 of the 31 municipalities in the Axarquía.

Already counted

The properties counted so far in the district are in Almáchar, Arenas, Comares, Iznate, Moclinejo, Alfarnate, Benamargosa, El Borge, Canillas de Albaida, Cómpeta, Cútar, Macharaviaya, Salares, Sedella, Alfarnatejo, Algarrobo, Benamocarra, Colmenar, Frigiliana, Periana, Sayalonga and Riogordo. Inventories are still to be drawn up for Alcaucín, Canillas de Aceituno, La Viñuela, Totalán, Rincón de la Victoria, Vélez-Málaga, Torrox and Nerja.
In the case of La Viñuela the inventory is being drawn up in parallel with the new urban development plan (PGOU), the first draft of which is expected to be approved in the new few weeks.

Of the 12,760 illegal buildings counted so far by the Junta, 859 are on land classed as ‘protected’, and 976 were built recently enough to be still prosecuted, which means that a total of 11,025 are likely to be legalised.
With these figures, collected in the Axarquía and in the rest of Andalucía, the Junta is preparing a special decree to regulate properties build on land classed as ‘no urbanizable’.

Foreign home owners call for speedy regularisation

The president of the association Save Our Homes Axarquía, Phillip Smalley, met last week in Seville with the director general of Planning Inspection, Rosa Urioste. He has called for the regional Department of Public Works carry out the regularisation process as quickly and easily as possible, given the great unease among the affected home owners. “We have been fighting for a solution for four years and while we believe that the Junta is committed to regularising our homes, we are still not fully reassured. We will be happy when they solve our problem”, Smalley pointed out.

The SOHA president also stated that the last thing the Junta de Andalucía has told the group is that it is working on the decree to legalise the homes, but that the new regulation will not be in force for at least another four or six months. “Now all we can do is wait, although the Junta must speed up the process as much as possible”, Smalley insisted.
 

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