President of the Andalucian Popular Party, Javier Arenas Pledges Action on Illegal Homes
The President of the Andalucian Popular Party (PP), Javier Arenas, met in Almeria on Friday with members of the British collective AUAN (Abusos Urbanísticos Almanzora No), where he pledged action to try to speed up the legalisation of the 300,000 "illegal" homes in the province.
Señor Arenas invited representatives of AUAN to attend the regional parliament when he puts forward a motion proposing a cross-party agreement to fast-track the regularisation process, which would otherwise take many years.
He also specifically proposed a pact with the socialist party (PSOE) to instigate interim measures to "alleviate terrible situations affecting human rights, where families cannot gain access to electricity and water".
He acknowledged that serious problems exist in many small towns where the application of the planning laws has proved to be "practically impossible" in solving the problem, and emphasised the need for fundamental changes to the regional planning regulations (LOUA and POTA). He promised these changes would be delivered by a PP government should they take power in the forthcoming elections. Sr Arenas blamed a lack of control over construction by the current Junta as the root cause of the problem, and acknowledged that some mayors "have not acted properly". "A citizen who has purchased in good faith should not be a victim of the law, of the lack of control in urban development nor of the disastrous management of any regional government" Sr. Arenas remarked. During the meeting the PP and British residents discussed the impact of this crisis on their lives, on the economy of the region and on the confidence of foreign investors.
Helen Prior, who is still fighting for compensation after her home was demolished in a planning row in Vera in 2008, said "The support of the PP has come too late for me personally, but I hope that it will help the hundreds of thousands of people facing the same situation."
Maura Hillen, President of the AUAN, told the meeting "Sr. Arenas is the first politician to take a serious interest in this issue. We are not interested in apportioning blame amongst the political parties. We only want a fast and effective solution to the problem of the 5,000 illegal homes in the Valley of Almanzora . We are confident that people will support the political party that has the courage, the intelligence and the will to face the difficult problems and provide decisive action to resolve them" she said.
Article First Published: Monday, 29th November 2010, 15:30 CET
Last Updated: Monday, 29th November 2010, 15:42 CET
Author: News Rover
