Last ditch efforts to save coastal site
Ecologists present objections to modified project for Cala Mosca
THE ONGOING struggle to prevent a massive urbanisation from being built at Cala Mosca, the last stretch of undeveloped coastline in Orihuela, has seen more official objections lodged by ecologists and residents, and criticism of the council’s alleged haste to approve the project.
A report by the council’s town planning director ‘tries to hide serious problems with the shortage of tap water supplies’ for an additional 2,200 homes, claims opposition party Cambiemos.
They accuse him of trying to get the project approved by the local government without another report required from the town hall secretary.
The party contrasted the speed of the town planning department’s communications and procedures with the promoter (Gomendio), compared to how long it takes for ordinary residents to apply for small licences or other procedures.
Cambiemos claim that the Ciudadanos party (Cs), which runs town planning, is trying to get the council to adapt to the criteria and deadlines of the promoter, either with the consent or without the knowledge of their Socialist party (PSOE) coalition partners, ‘neither of which is very reassuring’.
They say they have repeatedly warned PSOE mayoress Carolina Gracia that C’s have been allowed to pick their own town planning director, claiming this is so he can speed up the procedures and prioritise Cala Mosca to approve the scheme.
The procedures already passed by the Partido Popular (PP) and since 2015 also by C’s, will make it difficult to stop this ‘development attack on the municipality’, but although ‘it may not be easy to stop the Cala Mosca project, it is very different to speed it up unnecessarily’, the opposition party adds.
Meanwhile, five objections to the modified project have been jointly presented by five associations – friends of the south Alicante wetlands (AHSA), friends of the Sierra Escalona (ASE), Salvemos Cala Mosca, Ecologistas en Acción, and the Arcángel residents of San Miguel de Salinas.
They argue the procedure should be suspended while the regional government’s territorial action plan (PAT) for the Vega Baja area is approved, which would protect the land from building due to its ‘fragility’ and the presence of an endangered plant, the cat’s head rockrose, and snail, Tudorella mauretanica.
The presence of these threatened species was enough to halt work on the project in 2007 until measures to preserve them are adopted and approved. Despite these supposedly corrective measures, the urbanisation would effectively destroy and degrade a unique coastal location in the Vega Baja, which numerous collectives have been demanding should be protected for decades, the associations claim.
They allege a ‘necessary town planning procedure has been skipped’, which would require the project to be modified further in line with the environmental impact declaration, and the promoter to increase the size of the conservation area.
There have also been negative reports about the effects of additional traffic from the urbanisation, issued by the national roads department and ministry for transport in 2019 and 2021.
The associations warn the town hall could face criminal proceedings for knowingly approving the modified project despite binding negative reports.
The site is also crossed by an unmarked traditional livestock trail, and next to a Site of Community Importance (SCI) and a Special Protection Area for birds (SPA), which should require the project to be reduced by about 24,000 square metres, they claim.
The associations add that the PAT should arbitrate any necessary compensation the promoter may be due, either financial or transferral of building rights to other land.