After years of legal wrangling, the illegally-built Sun Village development of 40 flats with communal gardens and a pool in Palau-saverdera, in Catalonia’s Alt Emporda region, will be demolished.
The owners of the flats, mainly Dutch, British, and French, have 6 months to comply with a demolition order resulting from a decision by Catalonia’s High Court in 2006. All efforts by owners and the town hall to block demolition have now failed.
The problem started in 2001, when Mayor Narcís Deusedas (CiU) approved the development of private flats on land zoned for public facilities.
When building started, and locals realised what was going on, a campaign began to have the development knocked down.
“I don’t know what will become of us. 62 years old, and nowhere to go,” one owner told the Spanish press. “Knock it down if they must, but we should be compensated.”
Owners are demanding that the town hall compensate them with 310,000 Euros for each home, a total of 12 million Euros.
“The Mayor is to blame. He gave the licence, and when the problems started he promised that he would legalise the situation,” complained one of the owners.
The Mayor has started proceedings to demolish the buildings.
