The Mayor of Marbella, Angeles Muñoz, and the regional government in Seville have agreed to legalise, in the new town plan, another 200 properties that were formerly earmarked for demolition. This reduces the number of illegal homes in Marbella under threat of demolition from 700 to 500.

Now included in Marbella’s new town plan – effectively a massive planning amnesty for some 19,000 properties illegally built over the last few decades – is the Jardines del Príncipe development of 81 apartments located on Marbella’s Golden Mile. The development was over-built by 40%, blocking the sea views of various neighbouring properties, whose owners took legal action and obtained a demolition order for part of the development. Under the new agreement the promoter avoids having to demolish part of the development in return for ceding the bottom floor to the town hall.

It’s a similar story with the Jardines de la Costa development in San Pedro, from the promoter José María Enriquez, implicated in the Operation Malaya corruption scandal. The development will be legalised in return for donating land to the town hall in a different part of the municipality.

There is no amnesty deal, however, for the Banana Beach development, on the beach just to the east of Marbella. This development, along with some illegal properties in the Rio Real area, is still under threat of demolition.

The decision to legalise 200 properties has been criticised by local politicians from the opposition Socialist Party. They claim it mainly benefits developers who took advantage of a corrupt town hall in the past. “We don’t understand the criteria they are using,” said one. “The majority of the properties they want to legalise are empty and it wouldn’t cause any conflict to knock them down.”