MORE TRANSPARENCY IN ALBANCHEZ

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As town hall clarifies its proposals for dealing with illegal houses.
Faced with planning objections filed in April of this year by the homeowners association, AUAN*, citing ‘confusion and legal uncertainty’, the town of Albanchez (pop. 823) has republished its proposals for dealing with an estimated 100 illegal properties within the municipality.

The revised proposals, which take the form of municipal ordinances, were made available to the public on the 6th of August and now include detailed maps showing how each property will be dealt with under the terms of the recent Decree (2/2012) to regularize houses in Andalucía.

An AUAN spokesperson said that they were ‘satisfied’ with the outcome ‘even though it proved quite a struggle to obtain the revised documents during the summer holiday period. In April, when the original documents were published, we were very concerned that many anxious homeowners were being encouraged to spend thousands of Euros to apply for paperwork that is only useful if your property is to be excluded from the town plan. We simply wanted more information to be made available so that people could make informed decisions.

We are therefore pleased to report that this information is now available’.
The latest documents indicate that the neighbourhoods of Los Llanos and Los Angeles are proposed for inclusion within the town plan (PGOU) as urban settlements (asentamientos) and a further nine areas of the municipality including hamlets such as Los Guerreros and Barranco del Infierno are proposed for inclusion as rural settlements (habitats rurales).

If the regional government accepts the proposals, illegal properties within these areas would eventually be legalised via the regular planning processes.

Areas not specifically earmarked for inclusion within the town plan are classified as outside of the town plan or ‘fuera de ordenacion’. Newer properties requiring paperwork and/or access to services may need to apply to be classified as ‘assimilated’ as ‘fuera de ordenacion’. The application process and associated costs are more fully described within the new ordinances.

‘The proposal is not without its challenges’ continued AUAN’s spokesperson. ‘For example, the plan acknowledges that Los Angles is partially impacted by protected land due to its proximity to the local cemetery and we can see that some houses that are excluded from the plan are on ‘parcelaciones urbanisticas’, a planning issue which occurs when rustic land is illegally divided into building plots’ ‘Nevertheless, we have a clearer picture and the town hall should have a decision from the regional government within months’, AUAN’s spokesperson concluded.

*AUAN (Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora No) is a non profit organisation campaigning for the legalisation of homes purchased in good faith. Its activities are funded through membership fees and donations. For more information visit their website www.almanzora-au.org.