October 2011

Hello again. A few weeks ago I read about a 22 year old Bolivian man who, in a court in Murcia, was given a 2 year sentence for the rape of a British woman. The rape took place in her own home and the victim was twice hit hard in the face. Two years. So it was with some surprise that I discovered last month that the ex mayor of La Viñuela, Juan Millan, had received 27 months in jail for issuing building licenses illegally. I know Juan and in no way would I ever describe him as a wicked man. The sentence seems a bit “out of whack” to me.

Hang on, I hear you say, haven’t SOHA.ES been campaigning for years with a slogan of “Punish the guilty, not the victims”. All true, but this was intended to get the forces of law off the backs of those people from Britain and elsewhere in Europe who had bought houses here in good faith. What we have also always said is that what is important is that the process of town planning should be better controlled and that consumers should be better protected. Is it? Not that I can see.

The Junta announced in October that the decree to deal with the legalisation of houses in Andalucia should be passed before the end of this year. You may have seen in the press that the Junta estimates that there are 12,760 illegal houses in the Axarquia (how can they be so precise when the inventory for Alcaucin is not even complete) and that the decree will enable 11,000 to be legalised. This is good news and SOHA.ES have worked long and hard to make this happen. But the story doesn’t end here and SOHA.ES will continue to fight for the rights of the other 1,760 homeowners in Axarquia that the decree doesn’t cover.

You would think that everyone would be pleased but enter stage left the ecologists of GENA. They are concerned that the decree gives carte blanche to corrupt officials, greedy developers and wicked mayors to begin the whole sorry process again. I don’t know about you but if I were a mayor, the prospect of spending more time in jail for signing a dodgy building license than a violent rapist might make me think twice. Wouldn’t you?