June 2013

Hello again. Gloria Vega is the Secretary general of Land Planning for the Junta de Andalucia. All the problems for illegal housing in Andalucia now fall in her bailiwick. In February we at SOHA.ES wrote her a letter asking her to respond to three crucial questions. We have just this month, June, received her reply. Not exactly a rapid turnaround but we are patient people.

We asked Gloria; What are you going to do about the poor people who applied for a licence, paid for a licence, were given permission by the Ayuntamiento but somehow they never received an actual licence? Gloria says the law says they have no licence!

We asked Gloria; What about the people who had a legal house that the Junta denounced and now have had there licence annulled? Surely that means that they can apply to be regularised in the same way as people who never asked for a licence can be regularised. Gloria says the law says the house is illegal and will stay that way.

We asked Gloria; What about those unfortunate people who built their house and then their land was later declared as protected by the Junta? Surely you can’t go after these people? Gloria says that the law allows them to “adopt measures of urban discipline at whatever moment”.

It is worth noting that Gloria, who trained at the University of Seville in Architecture, is a career civil servant. She was at the Junta when the planning laws were written, she was at the Junta when the laws were being flouted by mayors, architects and lawyers. She was at the Junta when the tax receipts were rolling in from the victims of these crimes. She was there all the time that the Junta watched and did nothing. And now she hides behind the very laws that everyone ignored.

My message to Gloria and the Junta is clear. Your job is to ensure that the citizens of Andalucia are treated fairly, in this you have failed and continue to fail.