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Michael Cashman MEP at Wednesday's hearing in Brussels with representatives from Catral & Parcent
T hese were the words MEP and Vice President of the European Petitions Committee, Michael Cashman used to describe the LRAU (Land Grab Law) at a Petitions Committee meeting held in Brussels this week; that was attended exclusively by Round Town News. Nearly 30 petitions were heard at the European Parliament in the Belgian capital from mainly Costa Blanca residents. Amongst those petitions being heard by the EU Parliament Committee which is made of MEPs, including Sir Robert Atkinson and Neil Parish as well as Spanish MEP David Hamerstein, were ones made by Catral residents, who are also members of CACAU and have houses in the municipality that are deemed to be illegal, land grab victims from the Orihuela Costa, the Neighbours Association 'Arcangel' of San Miguel de Salinas, who petitioned against the Los Invernados urbanisation which is situated in the heart of the protected Sierra de Escalona. The Mayor of Parcent and British born councillor Jackie Cotterill, were also petitioners at the meeting.
They are fighting against a huge development in their picturesque mountainside village, as is Stuart Muir from Monovar, whose petition against plans to build 8000 houses, three golf courses and an aerodrome was also heard at the meeting. The petitioners all had the support of Abusos Urbanisticos No (AUN) who were represented by honorary President Chuck Svoboda and President Enrique Clement. In amongst the packed committee meeting room were officials from Valencia and from Catral, including the Mayor, Aurelio David Albero and Councillor for Urbanism, Antonio Bellido. CACAU, the Catral residents association, had specifically asked the Petitions Committee to allow the Mayor of Catral to speak at the meeting and through his solicitor, Higinio Perez Mateos, he made very positive comments, which gave the CACAU delegates cause for hope. You will be able to read more about the outcome of these positive comments in forthcoming issues of RTN. Members of the European Parliament from Spain, UK, Germany, Poland and Ireland were all present at the meeting to debate these petitions and at times it became quite heated. With the exception of the Valencian official, all agreed that the problems heard before the Parliament during the meeting and the subsequent trauma experienced as a direct result by the petitioners and the residents they represent, are essentially down to the Spanish government to solve; nationally, regionally and locally.
Thousands of homes in Catral are affected by the illegal homes crisis as RTN has previously reported. The land grab petitioners included, Gerard and Ulla Perret from Los Almandros in Orihuela Costa. They, along with the Catral residents, had cause to feel positive following the meeting after comments made by some Spanish delegates. However, their fight is by no means over especially as the Valencian official didn't seem to think that the LRAU was in anyway breaching European law or violating the affected resident's human rights (!) The situation in Monovar still remains uncertain but many MEPs and delegates present at the meeting all agreed that something should be done to put a stop to the plans to build thousands of houses within the picturesque campo close to Elda and Pinoso. The town plan proposes a 600% increase in urban land, all within the countryside, miles away from the existing urban nucleus. One of the proposed macro-urbanisations is in itself bigger than the existing town of Monovar and will cause irreversible damage to the environment and the aggravation to the scarcity of water. One vocal MEP suggested removing the Valencian EU budget for 2009; such was the feeling from the politician, who is a staunch supporter of the petitioners, some of whom were his constituents in the UK.
Unfortunately the problems faced by the Mayor and Councillors in Parcent, in the North of the Costa Blanca, remain. (See page 18) They are still in the unenviable position of having possible criminal proceedings made against them by unscrupulous developers who want to turn their lovely village into a massive urbanisation on the mountainside. Members of the Parcent council, including Mrs Cotterill, are alleged to have been denounced, although this has yet to be confirmed by any representatives from the Guardia Civil. The developers had threatened to make an appearance at the petition hearing, but fortunately that threat failed to materialise following prompt action by committee member David Lowe. All the petitioners came away feeling positive, if only because of the fact that they were heard and felt supported by the MEPs, both Spanish and English. The politicians all voiced strong opinions that the current problems being experienced by many residents of all nationalities, are unconstitutional and they all made a point of mentioning the physical and emotional effects that these problems have had on the residents concerned. Michael Cashman stated; "The only way to get the pain out of Spain lies at the feet of the Spanish Government." There will be more on the European Petitions Committee Meeting in Brussels in next week's RTN.
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