From: www.costablanca-news.com/news/local.htm
Land Grab Claims Another Victim
Teulada couple let down
by court
By Tom Cain
The supreme court in Valencia has rejected a case put forward by
British couple Tessa and Len Deacon against an lRAU land grab project that was
threatening to take away part of their garden and leave them with a bill of
53,000 euros towards infrastructure costs.
Judges in Valencia said
the case was invalid because it had not been not lodged with the court within
two months of the town hall notifying the couple that permission had been
granted for an urbanisation project.
In July 2002, Teulada
council gave permission to a developer to construct roads and subdivide land
around the Deacons’ home into 800-square-metre plots. The Deacons’ house is the
only one included within the proposed development.
At a meeting with the
town hall in November 2002, the mayor admitted that the property should not
have been included in the Plan Parcial, but insisted there was nothing he could
do to change it and that the Deacons would have to pay infrastructure costs. He
said it was the law.
After taking legal
action, an independent specialist on urbanisations visited the couple and
prepared a 130-page report which concluded that Teulada town hall had made
repeated errors and that the Deacons’ home should not have been included in the
Plan Parcial.
Despite this, the court
ruled that the case had been submitted too late, allowing the developer to move
in and start demolishing boundary walls. Teulada town hall, despite being at
fault, has told the couple there is nothing it can do.
Mr and Mrs Deacon's
lawyer claims the Supreme Court has made a grave error in its decision because
it included the month of August in its calculation of the two-month period for
presenting complaints. Under Spanish law August cannot be counted because it is
classed as a holiday period.
BLASCO DODGES THE FLAK
The German TV company
ARD, which was severely criticised by the Valencia government for not allowing
it to appear in a documentary on the land grab situation, produced another
programme on the matter on Sunday May 21. Reporter Edith Lange made various
attempts to get regional territories and housing chief Rafael Blasco to appear
on the show but her efforts were rejected. All of the local councils approached
by the programmers declined to appear in defence of the LUV/LRAU.