To celebrate International Women’s Day, we hear the inspirational stories from over a dozen expats
International
Women’sDay
The
OLIVE PRESS
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...with an introduction from our British consul in Andalucia, Charmaine Arbouin
GIBRALTAR
Vol. 5 Issue 143
www.theolivepress.es
The Rock’s only free local paper
March 10th - March 23rd 2021
Torn down Owners demolish their own homes to escape massive fines as the Junta finally gets tough on illegal construction
Sisters are doing it
By Dilip Kuner
DANGER: El Palmar Landscape threatened by illegal development and (right) Len and Helen Prior dream home in the sun. Andalucia has had dozens of victims of illegal homes – including expats – who bought their villas in good faith only to see them later flattened by bulldozers. The most famous case involved British couple Helen and Len Prior who bought their villa which had planning permission from their council in Vera (Almeria). It was later deemed illegal and knocked down by the Junta as it was on land zoned as agricultural use only. It took 10 years of court battles before the retired couple finally received €236,000 compensation from Vera council in 2018. With an estimated 300,000 illegal properties in the region, the Junta has in recent years introduced measures to help victims legalise their homes. The majority though have been left in a ‘legal limbo’ with many left unsaleable. At least under new edicts brought in since
the Junta was taken over by the PP in 2019 less problems are being created. Indeed, in 2020 there were 95% more inspections undertaken and 300% more probes into shady developers, with so far €4million in fines levied. One key seaside town that is benefitting is El Palmar, in Cadiz, where fines of more than €600,000 have been slapped on the owners of any plot with a prefabricated house. The area was badly affected when an area of 500 hectares of agricultural land was effectively subdivided into hundreds of plots between 500sqm and 1,000sqm by speculators. A total of 16 cases were launched against people advertising development plots for sale on agricultural land. Most were tracked down via online adverts, many on social media. “It’s great they are finally clamping down and I’m in total agreement,” said local hotel owner James Stuart, from the Califa group in nearby Vejer. “So many houses do not have licences and the area just does not have the right infrastructure to ALL AREAS COVERED support it all.” He added: “Thankfully there are quite a few areas still totally un4G UNLIMITED touched by development.” INTERNET The Junta’s Minister of DevelopIDEAL FOR ment, Marifran Carazo, stressed STREAMING TV she is determined to fight the proliferation of illegal buildings. ALSO IPTV, “What is the point of passing a deSATELLITE TV cree to legalize irregular housing that was in legal limbo for decades tel: (0034) 952 763 840 if we allow these new types of illeinfo@theskydoctor.com gal building in. We are not going to www.theskydoctor.com allow it.”
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OWNERS of illegal homes have started to tear them down to try and escape massive fines of over €600,000. It comes after the Junta finally got tough on illegal homes, doubling the number of inspections and tripling its prosecutions against unscrupulous speculators. In a landmark year for the environment, there were double the number of inspections around Andalucia in 2020. Some 1,087 constructions were probed, while 75 investigations were launched into developers looking to cash in from holiday rentals and joint ownership schemes. So sharp was the rise that owners voluntarily knocked down their properties before getting fined in ‘almost all’ of Andalucia’s eight provinces. A number of homes have been voluntarily knocked down in El Palmar, as well as in Oria, Alcolea del Rio, Iznajar and Algatocin, revealed the Junta this week. The move is being seen as vital to stop dodgy developers before they can sell on the properties to unsuspecting people looking for a
...and introducing our new Digital Editor, Fiona Govan, in Madrid
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FRONTLINE female health workers have been singled out for praise during International Women’s Day. The huge army of health and care workers 70% of whom are women - were thanked for their unstinting work during the pandemic in Gibraltar. “It is particularly fitting to pay tribute to the extraordinary work carried out by the hundreds of women in the health and care sectors,” said Minister for Equality Samantha Sacramento. “As a minister I have repeatedly witnessed first-hand the truly incredible efforts of women at the forefront in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.” Hundreds of female doctors, nurses, lab technicians and carers played their part in helping Gibraltar residents during the hardest of times of the pandemic. Meanwhile, a large part of Gibraltar’s successful COVID-19 vaccination programme, known as Operation Freedom, has been due to women. From administrative to logistical and clinical tasks women have been involved at the highest level of the Pfizer vaccine programme. Sacramento also went on to detail the intense midnight strategic meetings that led to pharmacists like Melanie Gordon taking out the precious vials from the freezer at 4.30am. It came as Sandie Garcia, Head of Nursing, was charged with taking charge of the programme on the Rock. Elderly Residential Services Care Manager Susan Vallejo led the vaccination of residents at Gibraltar nursing homes. Primary Care Manager, Rose Suissa, successfully converted the former Primary Care Centre at the ICC into a military precise vaccination area.
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