The Ministry for Environment has ordered immediate termination of the building of two urban developments with golf courses in the township of Antequera after realising that both were breaching the Forest Laws as well as the Environmental Protection Laws of Andalusia. The Council of Andalusia (Junta) has opened up the relevant files for both developments.
The first case is an eighteen-hole golf course with a sports ground and hotel in the “La Quinta” area. The Ministry for Environment submitted the file to Environment Public Prosecutors Office having heard an ecological offence had been committed in that the soil and vegetation had been badly affected. The project also did not take into account the environmental effect it would have on the area.
The other case is a development in the “El Chaparral” area that includes, as well as a golf course, an equestrian centre and other buildings. Wood-clearing and pruning have been carried out in the area which did not follow the conditions laid down by the Ministry.
In Marbella yesterday, the “Ecologists in Action” revealed developers had breached the Public Works Ministry’s order which demanded that the Town Hall suspends building licences for a four-star hotel, 100 apartments, business premises and garages on land that qualifies as cultural areas in the Town Planning Guidelines (PGOU) of 1986. One month later, work continued as normal.
