March 2011

Hello everybody.  Since my last report to you the Chairman and I have been to talk to Señora Rosa Urioste (Director General of Inspection) at the Junta de Andalucia again.  Minutes for the meeting are available on SOHA.ES.es and I don’t want to go through them here.  In essence they have assured us, once again,  that the vast majority of illegal houses will be legalised but a few in protected areas will have to be demolished.  We raised with the Director our concern that a  number of our members have recently received annulments to their licences and we were surprised given that we had been led to believe that the process had come to a halt.  The Director assured us that no new challenges to licences had been issued in the last two years and that annulments that were happening now were simply the remnants of cases started over two years ago. This is good news, I think.

You will now have heard, no doubt, that the mayor of La Viñuela has been forced to resign by the court.  As I said in a number of interviews SOHA.ES sees no advantage in gloating over his demise or pointing accusatory fingers.  The job in hand is to agree a new Plan General with the Junta and to start the process of legalisation.  This morning the council in La Viñuela voted Juan José Jimenez of the PSOE the new mayor.  We at SOHA.ES wish Juani the very best of luck in his new role but urge him to work with the Junta and not against it.  At the meeting with the Director of planning we were told that in Arches and in Canillas de Aceituno the Ayuntamientos were refusing to cooperate with the Junta in the first step of preparing an inventory of illegal houses.  I am not sure whether this is recalcitrance or some obscure strategy but for the sake of our members and your residents, please, get it sorted!