[Anonymous]

The new Draft Plan for Marbella – what the future holds

If you want to find out how the town planning and the town hall propose to deal with the situation in Marbella/Costa del Sol visit the following link:

http://www.marbella.es/pgou/sintesis/mo_av_marbella_5.pdf

Also, read below how they are prepared to deal with the current situation of illegal licences:

8.1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF REGULARISATION AND
INTERVENTION CRITERIA.
The new Marbella General Town Plan must address the problem of
constructions which have been built on the strength of planning
permission, or building licences, which were issued illegally. According to
data held by the City Council and the Regional Ministry of Public Works
and Transport, there could be around a thousand such buildings. The
number of dwellings involved could be over 30,000. For the Review of the
Plan to ignore this complex legal, social, economic and town planning
problem facing the city of Marbella would be just as irresponsible as the
original municipal decision to issue licences on the basis of non-existent
planning.
A large part of the structural problems and deficiencies facing the
city are the result of this process of illegal construction, either because it
has generated them directly or because they have aggravated pre-existing
problems. In this sense, this Review of the Plan must address the different
factors which have affected all that has happened in the past and seek a
solution:
1. The city’s need for open spaces and facilities of sufficient quality and
quantity for the type of urban organisation that Marbella has
historically enjoyed, and which it is necessary to recover.
2. The impact that a number of these irregular actions have had on the
quality of the tourist offer in Marbella.
3. The impact of these irregular actions on the basic principles of town
planning.
4. The social impact that would result from ignoring completely all of
the illegally constructed buildings.
5. The economic value of the buildings. Every building, even when
constructed with an illegal licence, has a monetary value.
6. The financial repercussions felt by Marbella City Council if the
Review of the Plan does not adopt as an objective the general
criterion of regularisation, which could otherwise be absolutely
traumatic. The City Council has a direct responsibility if the buildings
constructed with illegal licences are finally demolished.
7. The difficulty of implementing the new town planning proposals
included in the Review of the Plan.

8.2. THE LEGAL CAPACITY OF THE NEW GENERAL TOWN
PLAN TO LAY DOWN THE OBJECTIVE OF
NORMALISATION AND ITS SCOPE.
The New Plan, in the legitimate use of its capacity to change or alter
the current Plan, can establish conditions that will lead to the future
regularisation of a large part of the buildings constructed with illegal
licences. Therefore, in the exercise of that power to modify the current Plan,
the New Plan can legitimately establish the precise conditions under which
buildings constructed illegally can be integrated into the new general
planning scheme.
This statement, though, needs to be qualified:
• Firstly, it must be recognised that the Review of the General Town
Plan is not obliged to declare illegal buildings to be compatible with
the new scheme. It may be opportune or convenient to do so, but
legally, there is no obligation. This conclusion is drawn from several
different legal precepts. There is not, therefore, any legal obligation
for the New Plan to regularise buildings that were constructed
illegally.
• Secondly, the legal capacity of the planner to regularise buildings
constructed illegally is qualified in that such regularisation cannot by
gratuitous, with the sole purpose of avoiding the legal effect of court
sentences which annul the licences.
• Thirdly, the general declaration of the capacity of the Plan to
regularise illegal buildings must also be qualified, in that the power
to regularise, since it is simply one facet of the power to review town
planning matters, is subject to the same legal limits as that power to
review.

• Fourthly, it must be clarified that the establishment of the objective of
regularisation does not mean that the New Plan is establishing
blanket conditions to permit the regularisation of all illegal buildings.
On the contrary, those developments which are incompatible with
the objectives and values contained in the Review of the Plan cannot
be accepted. And furthermore, this means that everything that can
be accepted must meet all of the conditions which allows its
integration into the new territorial structure, in such a way that it is
only by meeting all those conditions that such buildings may be
declared compatible with the Plan. And the fact is that regularisation
only makes sense in the context of the review of the general plan. It
is only if compatibility with the general objectives of city planning can
be demonstrated that illegal buildings can be regularised.
• Lastly, legal capacity to consider the possibility of regularising illegal
buildings in the Review of the Plan can only be based on the political
will to restore the credibility of the town planning system. This will
make it possible not only to prevent such infringements in the future,
but also to take active measures that will create the conditions in
which regularisation will be possible.

1. To ensure coherent town planning which serves the general interests
of the city. To this end, no illegal construction will be declared
compatible with the new Plan if they represent a liability or lost
opportunity to achieve the objectives of accessibility and mobility or
the creation of Marbella’s General System of Open Spaces and
Facilities.
2. The guarantee of the maintenance and improvement of urban
quality. In short, it is a question of guaranteeing an adequate
quantity of public spaces and facilities for users of the buildings and
existing uses in accordance with the proposals of the New Plan,
respecting the provisions of the LOUA as regards the provision of
facilities in each individual case.
3. To avoid the breakdown of the basic principles of town planning. To
this end, the proposals of the New Plan must respect current
legislation regarding the regularisation of buildings, especially those
limitations which establish a system of protection for land with a
public use.
4. The guarantee that there will be no exoneration of the basic town
planning obligations. This means that it is necessary to guarantee
that the beneficiaries of the regularisation measures contribute
towards the costs incurred in the execution of the infrastructure and
provision of the necessary facilities.
5. The principle of proportionality in the solutions to the problem of
regularisation. This means that the means must be appropriate to the
ends. This principle of proportionality will be applied in the
regularisation process and will be expressed in several different
ways.
6. The principles of legal security, defence of the consumer and of the
third parties buying in good faith.

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