Having just slagged off the Spanish justice system in a previous post, I have to admit that it has done one thing right. The Spanish supreme court has just ruled that monstrous-in-every-way hotel built on the El Algorrobico beach in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park in Almeria is indeed illegal. 

The hotel, promoted by a company called Azata del Sol, was the first stage in a plan to build a massive resort including the obligatory golf course plus residential development. In a natural park and on a protected beach it should never have gotten off the ground, but slimy local politicians helped to insure that the hotel was largely built before higher authorities put a stop to the work.

The Supreme Court has ruled the hotel is illegal because it is within 100 metres of the beach, and thus falls foul of the coastal law (ley de costas). This decision cannot be appealed, so the hotel will have to come down. That might take a decade, perhaps more, who knows. In the meantime this monstrous structure will sit there as a monument to greed and mindless development. There’s plenty of it on the Spanish coast, but at least this one was stopped.