Simon Wade
FOREIGN residents from blighted urbanisations in Gea y Truyols, Murcia, have united for a potential solution to the planning problems suffered so far in the area.
A newly created association, AUN-Murcia (Abusos Urbanísticos No – Murcia), has submitted a petition to the Murcia Town Hall asking for solutions in the areas of El Valle del Sol, Los Molinos, La Loma and Los Pinos asking, “Why are we still the victims of planning abuses here in Murcia when we can see that things have improved in other Regions?”
The houses in question were constructed in the years just after 2000, but due to planning issues, their owners continue to struggle to obtain basic services such as water and electricity and still cannot register their properties at the Land Registry.
Most homeowners are British pensioners, numbering over 200.
According to Linda House, the president of AUN-Murcia and organizer of the petition, “We bought in good faith, believing that everything was in order and we paid the market rate for our houses.”
Continuing, “Only later did we discover the properties were blighted by planning issues, resulting in grave consequences for the owners, in spite of paying our IBI like everyone else”.
“The total lack of progress is very frustrating especially when we can see what has been happening in other autonomous communities such as Andalusia. Why do we continue to be the victims of planning abuses here in Murcia?” she added.
In a letter to Murcia Town Hall, the group asked, “If it is not within your power to help us, we ask that those who do have the power bring an end to this.”
“We are the victims of a situation that is not of our making, but we are the ones who are being punished. This cannot be right,” the letter concludes.
AUN-Murcia, has been set up with the help and support of the ex-president of AUAN (Abusos Urbanísticos Andalucía No), Maura Hillen and the legal advisor to this association, Gerardo Vazquez, an Anglo-Spanish lawyer based in Mojácar, Almería.
Hillen and Vazquez are known for having helped many of those affected to resolve their planning issues in Andalusia, and for having brought about legal reforms in this arena both in Andalusia and at a national level.
For her work, Mrs Hillen was awarded an honorary MBE by HM The Queen in 2016.
In addition, the association has the legal collaboration of the Lawyer Pedro Rivera Barrachina, of the firm Aethicus Real Estate Lawyers of Murcia.
Celebrating the constitution of AUN-Murcia, Mrs. Hillen declared, “If practical solutions can be found in Andalusia with good will and collaboration between the different political tendencies, I am convinced that the same can be done in the Region of Murcia.”
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