Danish MEP David Hammerstein is on a mission to ensure that Marbella doesn’t break EU rules in its new town plan, currently open to public consultation. According to Hammerstein, a Green member of the European Parliament, the draft plan breaches European directives in areas such as money laundering, public procurement, and environmental impact.

Hammerstein also takes issue with the proposed amnesty for some 18,000 illegal buildings in the Marbella municipality. He insists this move would reward unbridled development, something that Marbella’s town council denies. “Marbella’s town planning scandal will become a European scandal,” warns Hammerstein, who claims that the new plan will “legalise the looting of public property that went on for 15 years, sweep the matter under the carpet and deny justice.”

Marbella’s draft town plan envisages legalising around 18,000 homes in return for compensation from developers, mainly in the form of land.