More Albox Demolitions Threatened
January 20th, 2010
Another demolition order has been served in Albox – meaning that nine families have now been notified that their properties must be demolished as illegal.
This Tuesday, the day after some 700 people marched through the streets of Almería against the plans to demolish the homes of 8 British families in Albox, a ninth demolition order was received by a family who own a property in the municipality. The expat support group’, AUAN, said it affects a family in the La Aljambra area of Albox and is a case which is completely unconnected with the ‘Albox 8’.
In the latest news from AUAN, it’s understood that the British Ambassador to Spain has written to the Regional President of Andalucía, and the British Consul, Steve Jones, is planning to speak to the owners affected personally. The Izquierda Unida left-wing party has meanwhile arranged a meeting with the Andalucía Ombudsman, which takes place in Sevilla this Friday.
AUAN said in a statement on Tuesday, ‘We believe that the only way to sort out this Spanish property mess is for a working party to be set up’ to ‘analyse the perilous state of Spanish property, the environment and urban planning’. They plan to ask for the Ombudsman’s help in this. They suggest representation on the working party from political parties, associations and those involved in the property market to draw up a proposed framework to ‘clean the mess up’ as ‘the only way to get to the root of the problem’. The organisation adds, ‘We will press for this law to be in force prior to the next local elections in 2011’.
AUAN reports little response to the issue from the Junta de Andalucía, other than the suggestion from the Junta’s provincial delegate for housing and territorial planning, Luis Caparrós, that the demolition notices in Albox could be delayed on the same legal argument as was applied for another house in Vera. The property was due to be demolished this Tuesday, 12th January, but has been temporarily postponed.
The statement from AUAN accuses Caparrós of abandoning the fate of the 9 houses in Albox to the local council, ‘who must find a solution through the town plans, and to the AUAN, who must find a solution through the courts’. This, AUAN said, ‘is called passing the buck’.
Story from Typically Spanish
