The Supreme Court of Spain imposed the demolition of a luxury macro-urbanization on the Island of Valdecañas, located in a reservoir of the same name, in the province of Extremadura. After several legal twists and turns, this body responded to the lawsuit filed by environmental groups since this gigantic construction was built in a space that belongs to a protected area and conservation of biodiversity.
On that island of 135 hectares, there are 185 luxury villas, a four-star hotel, an 18-hole golf course, enormous swimming pools and artificial beaches, 76 moorings for yachts in a sumptuous yacht club and even sports courts, which will see the bulldozers arrive and reduce all this to rubble . In the middle appeared the debate and controversy over the indemnities that the State must face towards individuals although, according to environmentalists, they knew about the conflict before buying their properties.
A ruling from 2011 had already annulled the project because it was built on protected and undeveloped land. However, in 2020, in the execution order of that sentence, it was decided that what was already built should not be thrown away due to its “high economic damage.” This argument, which satisfied the provincial authorities, was based on the fact that demolishing the complex would cost 34 million euros while compensating “buyers in good faith” would reach a figure three times higher.
This lavish project Marina Isla de Valdecañas -located 2 kilometers from El Gordo, Cáceres, province of Extremadura- had been denounced by Adenex and Ecologistas en Acción years ago. More precisely in 2007, when the mega-work was launched. Environmentalists pointed out that it was going to be erected on land belonging to the Natura 2000 Network (protected by the European Union). Even so, it became a place chosen by the Spanish jet-set for a getaway with all the luxuries, an hour’s drive from Madrid, on a highway that follows Portugal, in what many called, for its luxury, the “Extremaduran Marbella”.
The project had very powerful investors such as, for example, Beltrán Gómez-Acebo, cousin of King Felipe VI, Jose Maria Aznar Jr. son of former Prime Minister and the Venezuelan singer Carlos Baute, among others. And it was established as a favorite place for managers of large companies and the world of national and international banking.
At the time, the authorities of the province of Extremadura had given their approval to the luxury construction project on the Island of Valdecañas. In fact, the local government declared it of “Regional Interest”. But in 2019 the Constitutional Court judged as illegal the article that was included in the Land Law and that allowed the Junta de Extremadura to homologate the initiative.
Although environmentalists are totally in favor of the ruling of the Spanish Supreme Court, they know that it puts them in an uncomfortable situation in front of the owners of the luxury homes that must now be demolished. The owners have one resource left on the way: file an amparo before the Constitutional Courtbut environmentalists consider that it has little chance “because no fundamental right has been violated.”
