The Junta de Andalucía has opposed the creation of new golf courses that do not comply to each and every one of the stipulated prerequisites in the province of Granada the rest of Andalucía.

The conditions are those laid down in the Decreto 43/2008, which was modified two years later. These conditions put clear limits on housing connected with golf courses – such projects have traditionally been a back door to building an excess of luxury apartments.

A technical commission has been charged with judging each project and to date three Granada golf-course projects have been rejected. One of them is the Los Palmeras Tropical Resort, which was to be situated between Molvízar and Salobreña and included 600 dwellings. It was rejected, primarily, over environmental issues.

However, this rejection is not final, as the ball is back in the court of the development companies, who are given a chance to modify the projects and bring them into line with regulations.

The two other projects were Sierra Nevada Golf, within the municipal boundaries of La Calahorra, and Castillo de Tajarja, within municipality of Chimeneas. The latter included 1.8m sq/m and 450 dwellings.

These three rejections, as valid as the reasons may or may not be, have ruffled feathers within Granada as the province only has four golf courses (Motril, Atarfe, Otura and Las Gabias), whereas neighbouring Málaga has over 45 golf courses. Many see this as discrimination coming from Sevilla in what is perceived as western Andalucia favoured over eastern Andalucia.

Others argue that most of the Málaga courses were built before any real sort of control concerning environmental impact (water resources) were in place – Granada has woken up to golf tourism too late, in that respect.

Whatever the case, there will be much disappointment and ‘noise’ coming out of the province in these coming months and years.

(News: Granada, Andalucia)