The Tribunal Supremo has thrown out the appeal by the homeowners on Cármenes de Mar in La Herradura; thus freeing the Town Hall of the obligation of carrying out stabilisation work on the hillside.

The Supreme Court does not consider that the appeal “is sufficiently argued” and lays the court costs, some 2,000 euros plus IVA at the door of the homeowners on this unstable hillside which has already seen several dwellings slipping down the slope.

It should not be forgotten that the Town Hall was found co-responsible after the developers went bust but claimed that they didn’t have the money to rectify the situation; i.e., stabilise the hillside, which should never have been built upon in the first place, as everybody was aware of the instability of the terrain. 

Yet the Town Hall went ahead and issued building licences and pocketed the juicy licence fees.

Bear in mind that the area was originally greenbelt but the administration at the time (Benavides) changed the land category to building land.

In 2007 the development company estimated the cost of sinking 52 piles to stabilise the hillside at 3.2m euros. Since then estimates have gone from 15-million to 44-million until finally in 2023 the latest study put it at between 50 and 80-million.

Originally, the law courts in Granada ordered the developers and other companies involved in the project to stabilise and restore the urbanización. This finding was upheld by the Provincial Law Court in 2017 but only to end now with this Supreme Court decision.

Whilst all this was going on, the developer had declared bankruptcy and entered into liquidation. 

Affected homeowners sued the Town Hall in an administrative-litigation process and in 2020 the Regional Supreme Court (TSJA) sentenced the Town Hall to repairing Cármenes del Mar in place of the defunct developers… until the TSJA in an appeal placed by the Town Hall then decided in their favour in 2024.

Mayor Ruiz Joya, is a happy bunny, saying that it was “impossible and unenforceable” to have a ruling that forced the Town Council to pay out when it had no political or technical responsibility; i.e, his administration was not governing at the time when the building licences were issued.

He also considers that it was unfair for the people of Almuñécar to assume this enormous expense without even knowing if it would stabilise the hillside or not. He said that It would have led to ruin, and the Town Hall would have had to stop providing basic services.

Editorial comment: yes it is unfair that the people of Almuñécar should have to foot the bill for the absolutely irresponsible decisions taken by politicians. 

Too many times politicians have cost citizens huge amounts of money and escaped unscathed from the consequences. Let them compensate with their own estates, homes, salaries and savings, because until they do, this kind of sinvergüencería will continue.

(News: Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: Cármenes del Mar, Unstable Hillside, Developers, Town Hall, Supreme Court

news, andalucia, granada, costa tropical, herradura, cármenes del mar, unstable hillside, developers, town hall, supreme court

Reader’s comment: “Until politicians and companies are held financially responsible for decisions that were clearly irresponsible and or led to their own financial gain, these cases will continue. They want all the gains but no responsibility for the losses.” – Mair Ellis

Couldn’t agree more – Martin