It will be presented to the Environment Ministry in Madrid and can be signed at council offices.

Ecological groups have been long-term advocates of national park status and now the plan has received town hall backing following a devastating fire last September.

Sierra Bermeja with Sierra Palmitera and Sierra Real covers 20,000 hectares between Casares and Istan.

The Sierra is home to the pinsapo tree (Spanish fir), which only grows in Andalucía.

For an Israeli politician’s reputation is now in tatters after opting for a session on the tiles ahead of an official dinner engagement.

Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov has been labelled a “disgrace to Israel” after standing up 50 leading Spanish leaders at a 65 euro per head evening meal.

“It’s a pity he didn’t have a chance to hear what they think about doing business with Israel. He might have learned something.”

Instead, Meseznikov was spotted letting his hair down in several of the capital’s bars and clubs with close aides.

“The business figures weren’t very happy, to say the least. We went to great lengths to bring those people and the minister just cancelled at the last minute,” explained chairman of the Spain-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Gil Gidron.

“It’s a pity he didn’t have a chance to hear what they think about doing business with Israel. He might have learned something.”

Meseznikov was also criticised for being late to an official event in a Toledo church.

It had been closed to visitors for two hours to accommodate the minister’s visit.

However, Meseznikov’s spokesman has responded by blaming mismanagement of the schedule on the embassy staff.

The spokesman added: “Anything that has been stated about the minister’s activities during his free time borders on slander and is not deserving of a response.”

The Deputy Leader of the Labour party said that although progress has been made with global inequality issues, more work still needs to be done.

The British MP urged for a meeting to be held in London to promote the creation of the proposed UN agency.

Harman jointly chaired the event – part of Spain’s rotating EU Presidency – with the Spanish Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Equality.

A spokesman for the Spanish Presidency said: “The summit seeks to give new impetus to gender equality in the EU.”

After taking four years to complete, top politicians and diplomats will be among 500 guests invited to the opening, according to the Ministry for Development.

The airport will be able to handle 9000 passengers an hour, double its current capacity, when the second runway is built next year.

It will have an automatic system capable of handling 7500 suitcases an hour, 86 check-in desks, 20 boarding gates as well as new shops and restaurants.

Already dubbed the Wild West by outsiders, its roads were studded with potholes, there were hardly any signposts and every other bar, it seemed, was run by a Brit.

Something of a hive for timeshare touts, petty criminals and ne’er-do-wells, for many it was no surprise when an English barman in the town was arrested and charged with the murder of two teenage girls.

The ramifications were far-reaching for the expatriate community and it started a vicious – and sometimes violent – backlash against anyone from the UK who lived in the town.

“They thought I was a witch,” says Rachel Goutorbe, from Posh Pets, who had only just set up her dog-grooming business in the town.

“Everyone got tarred with the same brush. And because I was on my own with half a dozen dogs I think they thought I was the devil. They certainly let me know about it.”

Something clearly needed to be done. And done quickly.

And thankfully within weeks the town hall had started a kind of zero tolerance campaign to clamp down on the illicit unregulated bars and clubs that had sprung up around the town.

It certainly had the desired effect and now, seven years on, the place has seen a complete turnaround.

The reputation it once had for being a party town, a hive for drugs and awash with illegal activity is a thing of the past. Everything in Alhaurin el Grande is, well, Grand again.

“It has come full circle since we moved here a decade ago,” says Louise Walker, from Deep Blue Pools. “The town had gone downmarket very fast, and has now come right up again.”

Owner of hotel Finca la Mota Daniel de Cock agrees. “In a very short time the town had become packed with too many British bars and residents. It was not natural. Too many of them used to get pissed and stumble around looking for trouble.

“Luckily that tattoo and souped-up car brigade has more or less gone and there are a lot less hooligans.”

The recent downturn has also led to a further clear out of Britons, with some estimating as many as half of the expatriates have now returned to the UK.

Steve Nelson, from funeral planning company SPN, believes it has not been a bad thing for the town.

“Mostly it was the idiots who got off the plane at Malaga claiming to be gas fitters or mechanics that have gone back,” he says. “And then there are the rip off merchants and chancers.

“You can finally go out again with your kids without fear of your two-year-old coming home effing and blinding.”

There is no doubt that Alhaurin has been through a dramatic transformation over recent years.

Wandering around the old town there is a new swagger about the place, despite the high unemployment that is effecting the whole of Andalucia.

The streets are impeccably tidy and the old buildings have been generally well preserved.

Heading uphill from the roundabout on Calle Gerald Brenan you are soon in the Albaicin barrio, which got its name due to similarities with the same district in Granada.

Nearby, leafy Plaza Alta is abuzz with childrens’ voices and roadside cafes ply their trade late into the evening, while further up the ancient Vera Cruz chapel sits alongside one of the best 180 degree views in inland Malaga.

From here you can see why Alhaurin has always been the nerve centre for the Guadalhorce Valley.

The views stretch for miles around, down towards Malaga airport and up into the Sierra de las Nieves mountains.

Sitting at 240 metres above sea level the town sits in a commanding position between the 1,100 metre tall Sierra de Mijas and the fertile valley below, where everything from olives to avocados have been grown for centuries.

Indeed it was in Phoenician times that Alhaurin became a market town, as the already established Iberian tribes bartered their goods with the new arrivals from the Lebanon.

Later the town thrived under Roman occupation when a number of wealthy merchants from nearby Malaga made money from the rich mineral deposits in the nearby hills.

They built sizeable villas, such as Villa de la Mata, and labelled the town Lauro Nova. Evidence has been found in the numbers of coins, statues and pillars, a trio of which stand pride of place opposite the town hall today.

But it wasn’t until Moorish times that the town really blossomed, as the Arabs planted new crops in the wide fertile valley that is crossed by two rivers, the Fahala and Blas Gonzales.

They introduced acequias (or water courses) to irrigate the entire valley and built a number of important mills, such as the Molino Morisco de los Corchos.

An area of particular beauty – not to mention an extremely clement climate – it had soon taken on an appropriate new name, that of ‘Garden of Allah’, or Alhaurin.

Remnants of the eight centuries of Arabic rule can still be found, particularly at the Arco del Cobertizo, which was a gateway to the medina, that had a souk, specialising, among other products, in silk.

But the best way to get a feel for the past is to take a walk out into the countryside, in particular in the area known as Hurique, on the back road to Coin.

Parking your car at the recently renovated hotel Finca la Mota, where you can get a great lunch, or just a cup of tea, you walk down into a lovely valley full of mixed agriculture.

Alongside charming white-walled ruins, sit small farmsteads of orange and lemon groves, orchards of plums and peaches and herds of goats and sheep roam around.

In the middle distance, seen from miles around, is the imposing 12th century Arabic fortress of Hurique, which is well preserved and mirrors a similar fortress, called Ortegicar, near Ronda.

Keep on going and you will eventually come to the even more beautiful open space of Barranco Blanco, where the famous Timoteo advert was once filmed underneath its waterfall.

One of the last towns to be conquered by the Catholic kings in 1485, it was eventually merged with Alora, Cartama and Coin in 1666 to form a single entity known as the Four Towns.

But it was anything but plain sailing for the united municipality and there were epidemics of plague and even an earthquake in 1680.

Later, Alhaurin was occupied for four years by the French during the Peninsular War in the early 19th century, which led to the inevitable destruction and upheaval.

Since then, apart from the turbulent period during the civil war, the biggest threat to civil peace has been an influx of English hooligans over the last decade. And then there was Scott Harrison, the former world champion boxer, from Glasgow, who made his home in the area a few years ago, but proceeded to live up to his hell-raiser reputation during a series of drunken nights out in the town.

After one particularly messy night out he ended up punching a policeman, after getting arrested for stealing a car in the early hours of the morning.

He is now languishing at his majesty pleasure, fittingly in nearby Alhaurin de la Torre prison, where he is expected to stay for at least two more years.

The town however, should perhaps best be remembered for its connections to Gerald Brenan, the celebrated writer of numerous books in southern Spain, such as South from Granada and The Spanish Labyrinth.

The writer lived in the town for two decades and described it as his “garden of Eden” (see story on page 17).

Finally, these days – and you read it here first – the town has a new celebrity living on its doorstep: with one Rick Parfitt, from Status Quo having recently bought a lovely country property near the town.

As he might say: Whatever you Want, Alhaurin has it all!

After getting disoriented descending the Barranco San Juan valley the Spaniard soon became engulfed in heavy snow and minus 10 degree temperatures.

With hope fading fast, the Granada man, 23, was incredibly saved when rescuers spotted his camera flash reflecting out at night.

“When people face a life or death situation, they will resort to using or doing whatever it takes to help save them.”

The search had already been called off at 9pm, two hours before it was resumed on identifying the light.

“When people face a life or death situation, they will resort to using or doing whatever it takes to help save them,” said Santos Arias, mountain rescue officer.

“Temperatures were plummeting and there was a huge amount of snow, it was a miracle.”

Despite being a Sierra Nevada ski instructor, he was not familiar with this particular slope and lost his bearings.

He had been missing for three hours, before being plucked out of the mountain obscurity.

Arias added: “Before you ski look at a map of the ski slope and the various pistes to ensure you don’t get lost.”

“Also if you’re heading off alone, take a mobile phone and torch with you.”

Some 207 were detained, according to UK Foreign Office figures.

Spain was the top destination for British drug arrests, followed by the US, with 141, and Thailand and France, both claiming 79.

“The message is clear – we can’t get people out of jail in other countries,” explained Europe minister Chris Bryant.

“So if you don’t want to waste your life away in a tough foreign jail, be sensible and keep clean.”

A recent survey suggested one in five Britons think diplomatic staff can get them out of prison.

Furthermore, a number believe they can be automatically transferred to a domestic jail.

It is estimated that 40 per cent of all Europe’s black market cocaine comes through Spain.

Bryant added: “Britons should know the risks of taking drugs abroad – and they should also be extremely wary of being sucked into the drugs trade.”

The wage packets of controllers – some reaching 800,000 euros – have come under intense scrutiny after a government probe revealed the striking sums.

With Spain’s airports racking up huge losses the soaring salaries have been widely criticised.

“Scandalous, Half earn more than double the salary of a government minister.”

It comes just weeks after passengers were forced to endure long delays after two runways were closed at Madrid’s Barajas Airport – due to a shortage of controllers.

An editorial in national newspaper El Mundo read: “Scandalous, Half earn more than double the salary of a government minister.”

The average controller salary is 200,000 euros, but this can easily be doubled or tripled depending on overtime.

In contrast, British air traffic controllers are paid 66,000 euros on average but this can rise to around 100,000 euros.

Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero earns 91,982 euros while the national average wage is 18,087 euros.

Controversially, AENA – the body which manages Spain’s airports – recorded losses of 300 million euros last year.

“I have taken the decision to take the bull by the horns and end the privileges of these controllers,” explained José Blanco, the Development Minister.

Blanco now intends to reduce air traffic control costs by 12.6 million euros this year.

Spain is now considering replacing air traffic controllers with a computer system in at least 12 small airports, which handle fewer than 50 flights a day.

The controllers must have a degree, speak good English and pass a medical test every two years.

After they are 40, they must undergo the test every year.

After living the life of Riley for years befriending the guests and living off the generous scraps they offered, he had got rather overweight.

So eventually the hotel found him a new home in La Caleta, near Torre del Mar, some 35 kilometres away.

“But within just 24 hours he had made it back,” explained owner Nicky Scott. “Motorways, lakes and rivers can be easily taken in his stride.”

She continued: “He is so friendly and was so popular with our guests that he was becoming overweight.

“He will make a loving companion although precautions will have to be made in the first instance, because he is reluctant to leave.”

She added that he had been “sorted out” by the vet.

If anyone can help please call Nicky on 699 946 213.

The bosses behind the double golf course scheme took online magazine el Observador to court over a series of articles on the case over the last few years.

“The judge at Malaga’s court number four threw out the case for the second time, saying that the website had no case to answer for.”

Company JM Legion Espanola claimed that the environmental website and its owner Juan Area deliberately wrote defamatory and damaging articles about the 800-home scheme, that sits in Unesco-protected virgin woodland, near Ronda.

But the judge at Malaga’s court number four threw out the case for the second time, saying that the website had no case to answer for.

The developers had previously sued up to a dozen opponents to the scheme, including three expatriates for seven million euros each for daring to speak out against the scheme.

In a string of cases they accused the campaigners of “slander, coercion, intimidation and threats.”

One of those sued, writer Alastair Boyd, aka Lord Kilmarnock, who died last year, merely told the Olive Press that he believed that golf courses were “not sustainable”.

All of the cases have been thrown out of court or archived.