Demolition work started yesterday on an illegal development of 34 flats in the Golf Río Real area of Las Chapas, in what is likely to be a symbolic gesture towards sorting out Marbella’s town planning mess.

The development, a 3-storey block of flats built by Naviro Inmobiliaria, did not have planning permission, and was located in a ‘green zone’, where it would not be legalised in Marbella’s new town plan. Naviro Inmobiliaria is owned by José Ávila Rojas – a local property tycoon accused of corruption in the Operation Malaya police investigation.

Unlike many of the other 18,000 properties with planning problems in Marbella, this development had not been sold and occupied, making it an easy target for demolition. This is only one of two illegal developments that the town hall has authorised for demolition. Construction work on the other building, by the developer Prosavi, was never completed.