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News: Mass development plans to run Spain dry?

Plans for major residential developments along Spain's Costas are raising concerns over water supply.

The Spanish daily newspaper El Pais reported in December that coastal municipalities in Almeria and Murcia have already drawn up plans to reclassify rural land for development to include around 500,000 new properties and 25 new golf courses.

The newspaper reports that plans for the construction of 148,000 new properties have been submitted in Cuevas de Almanzora in Almeria which has an existing population of 11,000.  In Malaga, 600,000 new properties have been planned over the next 10-12 years, with 540,000 of these on the coast.

Propertyspain.net reports that the Torreblanca Council has unanimously approved a large-scale 472-acre sea front golf course and holiday homes development in the hope it will attract foreign property investors to the Costa Azahar.  Propertyspain.net also  reports that a consortium led by Spanish golfer, Sergio Garcia, is planning 18 new golf developments in the region and nearby Marina D'Or is building three.

Despite fears of the Spanish property bubble bursting, residential demand is still very strong.  Real estate prices have risen by an average of 140 per cent in the past seven years and new figures indicate that there were 800,000 new home starts in Spain last year to accommodate growing demand for second homes.  Live In Spain recently forecast that spending on Spanish holiday homes will double from approximately 25 billion euro in 2005 to 45 billion euro by 2010. 

These major development plans have raised concerns over water supply.  Carlos Hernandez-Pezzi, the president of Spain's Superior College of Architects, told El Pais that the scale of this development is "unsustainable without the appropriate infrastructure".

However, some of these fears were diluted last week when Valencia announced that planning permission will only be granted if there is sufficient water supply.  This is one of the new requirements set by the new LUV land law which came into force last week replacing the controversial LRAU.  This new requirement will throw many of the planned development schemes into question.

 

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