[Anonymous]

AUAN Press release – 2nd November 2010

HELEN AND LEN PRIOR – ANOTHER SETBACK IN THEIR FIGHT FOR JUSTICE

Nearly three years after their dream home in Vera was demolished, British pensioners Helen and Len Prior faced another setback in their fight for justice last week.

The Administrative Courts, after a retrial of the case ordered by the Supreme Court in April last year, have upheld the original decision of the Junta de Andalucia requesting the demolition of their home. The decision was taken on the basis that the property was built on rustic land and could provoke the growth of an urban nucleus.

Last year the couple were finally offered temporary housing by Vera council. They had already spent two years living in what was formerly the garage of their demolished home.

Helen and Len, who are innocent victims of a planning row between Vera council and the Junta, will now have to seek compensation for the loss of their £350,000 home from Vera council who incorrectly issued the planning consent. It is likely that this process will take years, given the perilous state of town hall finances and Spain´s notoriously slow legal system.

The implications for the eight homeowners in Albox who face similar proceedings needs to be assessed, but this ruling is not good news for the many innocent victims of planning injustices in this area.

Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora No (AUAN)
http://www.almanzora-au.org

[Anonymous]

Just to remind readers – the Priors’ home is in a quiet area outside Vera, Almería. The house was not on the coast, not in front of a high-speed train, neither was it near a motorway nor visible from any road. It was in a quiet area with some few other houses scattered around, several of which also received threats of demolition from the Junta de Andalucía, although no other house to date has been demolished. The Priors were an ‘easy target’ in a town run by a small unimportant party (PA).
Six demonstrations later, in Vera, Albox, Almería (2), Cantoria and Málaga, with tens of thousands of Brit home-owners in a similar position, after endless TV specials in Northern Europe and across the world, the province of Almería has gone bust. We have 27.5% unemployment, and no discernable house-sales. After three years of misery, the Junta de Andalucía’s message remains the same: with our policy of arbitrary chastisement, we will bankrupt Almería.

[Author]

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