15 Jul, 2022 @ 18:30
1 min read

Olive Press Opinion: Price of everything, value of nothing

olivepress

EVERYTHING has a price… including Spain’s last virgin beaches.

With over six million square metres of pristine coastline in Tarifa in line for urban development, a cabal of bankers and housing developers are rubbing their hands with glee.

All rubber stamped by the council, wait for the politicians to wax lyrical about all the jobs it will bring and how much it will clean up the coast.

Forget the millions of tourists who visit precisely because they want to enjoy it exactly how it is.

Meanwhile the price of the only seaside stretch of Los Alcornocales Natural Park, near Sotogrande, looks to be €120 million. 

A princely sum it may seem, but not when you consider the unparalleled beauty and unique terrain of this green gem nestled in one of Spain’s most alluring corners. 

Forget the 600 jobs the Borondo project will bring. The area will be irreversibly altered if it gets the green light and, when finished, if there are two dozen full time sustainable jobs we’d be surprised.

There is, of course, a need for more affordable housing in the area, but these developments are not for low-income families, they are for high end holiday homes and tourist retreats for wealthy jet-setters.

Perhaps even more concerning is the radio silence from other media outlets here for whom the destruction of such delicate green space is apparently a flippant issue.

It falls on all of us to battle the beady-eyed developers who see only euro signs when looking at the most precious natural landscapes in the country.

Our Hands off the Costas campaign launched two years ago could be set for a busy summer.

Dilip Kuner

Dilip Kuner is a NCTJ-trained journalist whose first job was on the Folkestone Herald as a trainee in 1988.
He worked up the ladder to be chief reporter and sub editor on the Hastings Observer and later news editor on the Bridlington Free Press.
At the time of the first Gulf War he started working for the Sunday Mirror, covering news stories as diverse as Mick Jagger’s wedding to Jerry Hall (a scoop gleaned at the bar at Heathrow Airport) to massive rent rises at the ‘feudal village’ of Princess Diana’s childhood home of Althorp Park.
In 1994 he decided to move to Spain with his girlfriend (now wife) and brought up three children here.
He initially worked in restaurants with his father, before rejoining the media world in 2013, working in the local press before becoming a copywriter for international firms including Accenture, as well as within a well-known local marketing agency.
He joined the Olive Press as a self-employed journalist during the pandemic lock-down, becoming news editor a few months later.
Since then he has overseen the news desk and production of all six print editions of the Olive Press and had stories published in UK national newspapers and appeared on Sky News.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

British retirees living in Spain's Benidorm can now apply for financial help with carers
Previous Story

Bogus police officers tie up elderly woman during home robbery on Spain’s Costa Blanca

800px Playamar, Torremolinos
Next Story

Spain’s Torremolinos to set up summer cinema films on beach with free admission

Latest from Lead

Go toTop