Controversy over massive development scheme
Village still grappling with illegal building nightmare 'would double in population'
A MASSIVE development plan in the Jalón Valley described by councillors as an ‘abomination’ has been halted by an Alicante court, according to regional party Compromís.
However, the promoters have denied this and called the report ‘lies’.
Compromís had sought legal action to stop an urbanisation of 488 villas being built in a stretch of countryside in Llíber.
Once occupied in full, the urbanisation would have more than doubled the village's population, which barely reaches 800.
And Llíber still has several hundred homes in its rural outskirts constructed on greenbelt land, which are undergoing a legalisation process via the MIT procedure.
Compromís has claimed that a judge has put a temporary brake on the plans for the new urbanisation.
The left-wing party – which called the development approved by the majority Partido Popular-led (PP) council ‘abhorrent’ – claimed that environmental
impact surveys had been carried out.
Works in progress on connecting the sewage plant to mains drainage serving the new urbanisation were not included in the original plans, meaning they have no official stamp of approval, they stated.
And there is no guarantee of sufficient tap water to the estate and Llíber's existing properties, according to Compromís.
Also, the villa complex would be too close to the Sierra de Bèrnia and Sierra de Ferrer – two mountain ranges under a conservation order, they claim.
However, the promoter has responded by saying that ‘no court has halted the plan or has found environmental deficiencies’.
They noted that any statement to the contrary was ‘completely false’.
Long wait for project
The plans were originally signed off in 2001 when, according to Compromís spokeswoman Andrea Kruithof, the panorama was very different.
Back then, a burgeoning 'concrete boom' saw speculators hoping to get rich by selling offplan homes on out-of-town urbanisations to retired northern Europeans relocating to the Costa Blanca.
This 'building fever' left around 700,000 empty new homes in the Valencia region.
Huge stretches of countryside were sacrificed.
Now, 22 years on, the Llíber plans are 'obsolete' and the environmental impact report from back then would no longer apply, Sra Kruithof claims.
She also stated that another 488 homes would 'threaten the water supply for the entire Vall de Pop'.
Compromís deputy in Alicante, Gerard Fullana, says the party is 'working hard to protect the countryside from speculation' and to 'prevent a return to the past'.
“We don't want to go back to the days of mass tourism and excessive building development which has left the Marina Alta with one of the lowest incomes per capita in the region,” noted Sr Fullana.
The party wants the plan to be either scrapped altogether, or at least adapted to reflect the changing times and make it ‘more environmentally appropriate’.