5 May, 2010 @ 16:27
1 min read
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El Tel faces the eco warriors

FOOTBALL boss Terry Venables has scored an own goal after his plans to build a luxury sports leisure complex were dubbed a “crime against nature”.

The former England supremo came under fire from green campaigners and locals after receiving planning permission for a 500m euro resort on the Costa Blanca.

“This project would be a disaster for the area.”

It boasts 13 football pitches, 12 tennis courts, a golf course, horse riding and sports facilities as well as a 95-room hotel alongside 300 villas.

Planned for the sleepy village of Penaguila, environmental group Ecologistas en Accion claimed the scheme would “destroy farmland and scar the landscape”.

Spokeswoman Julia Molto said: “This project would be a disaster for the area.”

Villager and town hall member Henrique Llorens, 62, complained: “Building it here would be a crime against nature.”

But the charismatic coach – nickamed ‘El Tel’ after his stint as Barcelona manager in the 1980s – hit back following the criticism.

“It is ironic that it is being criticised by green campaigners when it is going to be eco-friendly and sustainable,” he countered.

Click here to read more Spain News from The Olive Press.

Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)

Jon Clarke is a Londoner who worked at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as an investigative journalist before moving to Spain in 2003 where he helped set up the Olive Press.

After studying Geography at Manchester University he fell in love with Spain during a two-year stint teaching English in Madrid.

On returning to London, he studied journalism and landed his first job at the weekly Informer newspaper in Teddington, covering hundreds of stories in areas including Hounslow, Richmond and Harrow.

This led on to work at the Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mirror, Standard and even the Sun, before he landed his first full time job at the Daily Mail.

After a year on the Newsdesk he worked as a Showbiz correspondent covering mostly music, including the rise of the Spice Girls, the rivalry between Oasis and Blur and interviewed many famous musicians such as Joe Strummer and Ray Manzarak, as well as Peter Gabriel and Bjorn from Abba on his own private island.

After a year as the News Editor at the UK’s largest-selling magazine Now, he returned to work as an investigative journalist in Features at the Mail on Sunday.

As well as tracking down Jimi Hendrix’ sole living heir in Sweden, while there he also helped lead the initial investigation into Prince Andrew’s seedy links to Jeffrey Epstein during three trips to America.

He had dozens of exclusive stories, while his travel writing took him to Jamaica, Brazil and Belarus.

He is the author of three books; Costa Killer, Dining Secrets of Andalucia and My Search for Madeleine.

Contact jon@theolivepress.es

1 Comment

  1. Eco-friendly and sustainable? Is that like developers who boast the creation of thousands of meters of ‘green spaces’ alongside their concrete jungles? Forgetting, of course, that originally everything they built on was a green space.

    As for Tel’s plans, if it’s better for the planet to build it than not, then good luck to him. As if!

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