The Junta de Andalucia is claiming 1.3m euros from Almuñécar for a plot of building land that the municipality ceded without charge in the first place.

It all started in 2004 when the then Mayor, Juan Carlos Benavides, signed an agreement with the Junta to swap a parcel of local, public land in order to build a new law court building next to Las Góndolas.

In fact, it really goes back to 1995, but I’ll keep it short. That year the Town Hall under the PSOE ceded a plot of land – free of charge – to the regional council-housing department so that it could build 25 VPO’s (subsidized housing units).

This department, belonging to the Junta never got around to building the housing – not even a bewildered brick placed on top of another. Then comes 2004 with Benny at the helm and it occurs to him that this vacant plot of land could be just the site for a new judicial complex to replace the wheezing ones in front of the old Radiovision.

The housing department, EPSA, agrees, but on the condition that a similar plot of land were allocated elsewhere on the P-4 for the ‘never-built’ council houses. There was a time limit to the new allocation for the council plot – five years.

Ten years down the line, the Junta never built the new judicial complex as promised, yet they unashamedly now demand that they want money in lieu of the council-housing plot.

So the whole thing goes to court, despite the Town Hall having offered different plots for the housing, but none of which have been accepted by the council-housing department in Sevilla, bless their cotton socks.

In short, the PSOE were responsible for the 1995 deal and Benavides (CA) for the 2004 subsequent deal, but it is the present Mayor (PP) who is having to face the consequences of the PSOE-run Junta’s demand.

And the Junta? Well, they’re onto a good thing because they’re claiming compensation for land that that they received as a free gift in the first place… and then politicians wonder why nobody loves them!