COUNCILLORS in
Catral have approved the long-awaited draft Town Plan (PGOU)
which will lead to the legalisation of 1,300 homes built without
planning permission on rural land.
It will be on show at the town hall for the next month before being sent on the
regional government for approval.
Residents can consult the plan and present official objections during this period.
The approval of the draft PGOU at a full council meeting last Thursday has been
labelled a ‘significant moment’ by town planning councillor Antonio
Bellido.
Sr Bellido outlined its most important features on
Wednesday.
He explained that when the PGOU is finally passed by Valencia the situation of
all the illegal houses that are not inside the protection perimeter of El Hondo
natural park will be ‘regularised’.
He stated that this means the houses – most of which are owned by British
expats – will eventually become legal entities.
“What we are doing is putting order in the town planning so that home owners
will not have any more problems and that they can live in peace,” he said.
Sr Bellido stated that in order to ‘regularise’ the illegal properties
each nucleus of houses will be brought together in a grouping called an ‘entidad
urbanística’ and the land classification will be changed from rural
to residential.
The home owners will then be compelled to install infrastructure required by
the law including sewage systems and street lighting.
“The residents will design their own urbanisations,” he said.
“We will ask them to provide basic infrastructure and they will decide
amongst themselves and vote on how they want to do it and what they want.
“If they do it simply it will cost less money, but if for example they
go for intricate street lights it will cost more.”
However there is now no suggestion from the council that the construction companies
which built the illegal houses – and made an estimated 80 million euros
in profit – will contribute to the cost.
“We will ask for subsidies to help the home owners pay,” Sr Bellido
said.
“It is impossible to say how much they will have to pay at this time but
we are looking at ways of bringing in finance.”
He also stated that residents will not be asked to give up land to accommodate
new roads built to serve rural areas.
Sr Bellido also revealed that the town hall’s idea to allow developers
to build additional houses around the illegal homes had been knocked back by
the regional government.
Only two new areas of countryside have been set aside for new building.
The town hall has estimated that the PGOU will allow the population of Catral
to grow from 9,000 to around 20,000 people over the next 20 years.
Sr Bellido added that he did not know what will happen to the illegal homes built
inside the protection perimeter of El Hondo natural park.
“We are studying other alternatives for these houses,” he said.
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The
highly controversial ‘abortion boat’ of Dutch non-governmental
organisation Women on Waves (WoW) left Valencia port on Monday
after five days in the national limelight.
During its stay, four women successfully interrupted their pregnancies onboard
the ship, during two outings into international waters where Spanish law no longer
applied and the patients could abort under the umbrella of Dutch law.
On its second trip, the onboard medical team knowingly performed an abortion
on an underage woman without her parents’ consent, a practice considered
illegal in Spain but not in Holland.
Under Spanish law, the patient must be able to prove that she was raped, that
the foetus is severely deformed or that there is a clear physical or psychological
risk for the mother in order to successfully qualify for an abortion.
In addition, women aged under 18 years old must obtain the consent of their parents.
Prolife organisation Hazteoir have announced legal proceedings against WoW for
repeatedly breaking Spanish law, while feminist and left-wing groups are demanding
that the four women who interrupted their pregnancies are not investigated by
the government.
Doctors of WoW were forced to turn down a number of abortion requests due to
the applicants failing to meet the necessary requirements, most crucially that
the pregnancy must be less than seven weeks old.
The NGO’s stay in Valencia was almost aborted itself upon arrival, when
up to 100 pro-life and religious pressure groups, as well as a small contingent
of militants of extreme right-wing political party España 2000, attempted
to intimidate the crew and stop the ship from docking.
The bravest of the protesters took to inflatable dinghies and canoes to physically
bar the ship’s access to the harbour.
In contrast, more than 400 pro-abortion supporters greeted WoW with chants, live
samba music and the reading of a manifesto by famous Spanish actress Pilar Bardem.
The official welcoming party, with concerts and theatre performances scheduled,
was unauthorised by Valencia city council, and local police officers prevented
access to the port to the lorries transporting the necessary infrastructure for
the event in what trades union Comisiones Obreras described as ‘sabotage
by the town hall’.
Valencia mayoress Rita Barberá (PP) herself openly admitted to be ‘personally
against the arrival of the ship’, while regional health minister Manuel
Cervera described WoW’s activities as ‘barbaric’ and insisted
that abortion ‘is a problem of education and information’.
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