Apparently Demolitions Have Started

[El Jefe]

This thread is reserved for the discussion of the following linked articles.

The Demolition of Illegal Homes Begin in Albox and Vera (http://www.alboxinfo.com/news-demolitions-begin-in-albox-and-vera-1007.htm)

A.U.A.N's press release of the 13th January 2008:
AUAN Condemns Demolition of Briton's Home (http://www.alboxinfo.com/article-AUAN-condemns-demolition-of-britons-home-1008.htm)

[ramblaed]

Frightening :(

[mikeyj]

Hola,

Already under way in Cordoba, same thing happened, a poor house owner suffered anxiety/heart problems as with the poor "Priors".

I would like to know the full facts about the alleged 2 hour notice to demolish this 6 year old property, seems very wrong indeed even though we are talking Spain, to only give this amount of warning. Suppose it stops any human chain or EU appeal?

Draw a line under the whole mess, fine them, legalise them, collect rates from them, restore some confidence, then attend to those who caused the whole sorry state in the first place. They've all had their cut, promoter's, builder's, solicitor's, MAYOR's, Johnny English turns up life savings invested all paid up, knock on the door a week after completion, Señor Guardia, sorry sir but your casa is illegal, will have to be demolished, and it's your own fault, have a nice day!

Tom Bosis.

[El Jefe]

A sad situation indeed..!

Here are more links to see how others have been reporting it:

The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=XZOXXGQURCPZ5QFIQMFSFFOAVCBQ 0IV0?xml=/news/2008/01/11/wcostas111.xml)

The TimesOnline (http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/overseas/article3168519.ece)

The Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=507451&in_page_id=1811)

The Sun (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article676349.ece)

This is London (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23431848-details/Fears+as+more+British+dream+retirement+homes+to+be +demolished+in+Spanish+planning+row/article.do)

The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,,2238946,00.html)

Immigrant Ghettos (One blogger's particularly unsympathetic view) (http://mojacarhawk.blogspot.com/2008/01/immigrant-ghettos.html)

The Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=508032&in_page_id=1879&in_page_id=1879) 14th January 2008

:mad:

[johnmo]

It is no use wringing our hands and saying how bad this is. We have to do something now.

There is now a clear case of abuse of political power. No doubt the politicos in Seville feel they are doing the right thing for their country (as did Hitler, Amin and Mugabe ) but it is the way they are going about it that is wrong. The problem is that they know the right judges to go to in Andalucia to get their actions approved. Action has to be taken outside Andalucia and the only body able to do this without rebuttal on ´sovereign state grouns< is the EU.

This has to go to the European Court of Human Rights. This, however, is a daunting prospect and needs someone with knowledge influence to lead the challenge. The obvious choice to me is Michael Cashman MEP. Does anyone still have contact with him?

This will inevitably involve costs and probably a ´Fighting Fund´ is in order. This affects pretty well every property built on rustic land in the last 20 years or so (even the 10,000 sq. m rule was really for agricultural use only – like the UK ) so a lot of people have a lot to lose. I for one would be prepared to contribute – how about others.

[mikeyj]

Hi everyone,

With regard to the recent despicable demolition in Vera, we have today emailed Sky News with some details to see if they may be interested in giving this situation some outside coverage. As JohnMo says, it needs to go outside Andalucia now, and maybe this could expose some of the corruption amongst the Mayors, Town Halls, Builders, Developers, Promotors, Lawyers etc etc etc!

We will keep you all posted with what happens next.

Lisa and Mikeyj

[tasony]

I am a member of the AUAN. It is an organisation set up to try to resolve the difficuly housing situation which many of us find ourselves in. Anyone can join, you don't even have to have an illegal house !!

The organisation has written to Micheal Cashman. His reply was that it was out of his jurisdiction unless it goes to the European courts. He said it should be taken up by the British government i.e. the Foreign Office. We have someone in the organisation who has a contact with the Foreign Office, we are trying to get as many peoples stories together so they can be handed in. On the AUAN website there is a 'My_Story_Form' on the homepage, anyone can fille one in and it will be passed on. You don't need to give your name, they can be done anonymously. Come on everyone, what do you have to lose ?

The AUAN is holding a members meeting this Saturday at 11.00am at the Parilla in Albox. Anyone wishing to join should arrive as soon after 10.00am as they can.

[mikeyj]

Hola Todos,

The above is being organised to take place in front of the ayuntamiento in Vera please see http://jiminy304.vox.com for the full sp.

How about getting as many of us as possible to attend from our areas, we would appreciate their support if/when the time comes. The interesting thing here seems to be the expected support from the Spanish themselves.

Hope it's ok to put this link in "El Jefe" !!

mikeyj

[El Jefe]

I've just heard back from Jim Simpson about the time for the Vera Demonstration mentioned above.

Here are the full details:


Place: Outside the Vera Town Hall
Date: 27th January 2008
Time: 12 noon

[Albox100]

It is no use wringing our hands and saying how bad this is. We have to do something now.

There is now a clear case of abuse of political power. No doubt the politicos in Seville feel they are doing the right thing for their country (as did Hitler, Amin and Mugabe ) but it is the way they are going about it that is wrong. The problem is that they know the right judges to go to in Andalucia to get their actions approved. Action has to be taken outside Andalucia and the only body able to do this without rebuttal on ´sovereign state grouns< is the EU.

This has to go to the European Court of Human Rights. This, however, is a daunting prospect and needs someone with knowledge influence to lead the challenge. The obvious choice to me is Michael Cashman MEP. Does anyone still have contact with him?


This will inevitably involve costs and probably a ´Fighting Fund´ is in order. This affects pretty well every property built on rustic land in the last 20 years or so (even the 10,000 sq. m rule was really for agricultural use only – like the UK ) so a lot of people have a lot to lose. I for one would be prepared to contribute – how about others.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------johnmo, I have been advocating a fighting fund to take this to the EU for 3 years. I saw this coming but unfortuneatly many people are tired of paying out money and getting nowhere. Some people have spent in excess of 6000€ on different lawyers with no result, so I can well understand thier sceptism. Others complain they are members of the AUAN but they are just going round in circles. The AUAN are well meaning and work hard but they are only achieving publicity (a good thing) but no concrete result.

I know a good, very experienced lawyer who is based well away from Albox, who would take this on but it would be costly no matter how he cuts his costs. I am talking with him to see how this would work, how funds would be controlled, the security of contributor funds etc, but even this will take a little time to sort out. Also the lawyers actions will have to be transparent to the contributors. Something that should be pointed out is that it is quite possible that this matter could be brought under the rules whereby once the action is registered at the EU court the process of demolition of housing could be halted legaly and there is nothing the Spanish government could do about it. One of the biggest problems is that most lawyers are afraid to take on the legal system or even other lawyers in some cases. This is not the case in this instance.

In the case of the Albox town hall, the persons responsible for this situation are no longer in office, and however well meaning our new mayor is he has inherited a no win situation. The ultimate responsibility lies with the Junta de Andalucia and central government. The very people who continualy make empty promises to the AUAN and the town hall. The Junta de Andalucia need to be stopped but it will take money to do it, and some people just simply have no money left, and others have lost the will to fight. This is precisely what the Junta de Andalucia are relying on. MEP's are basicaly powerless unless an action is registered at the EU court. They can only bring the matter to the attention of the EU parliament who seem totally disinterested. Lets face it even our own politicians have been remarkable only by thier lack of response or protest to the Spanish goverment, and visits by MEP's to Albox have resulted in precisely nothing.

TAKING ON THE JUNTA DE ANDALUCIA AND THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT IN THE EU COURTS IS THE ONLY SOLUTION. IF I HAVE ANY GOOD NEWS FROM THE LAWYER I WILL PUBLISH IT WITH HIS THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT, BUT IT WILL TAKE TIME.