BENIDORM City Council has suffered a fresh setback in its attempt to overturn a €283 million compensation award plus €47 million in interest.
The total figure is roughly double the annual budget of the authority, which faces bankruptcy if it has to pay out.
The award was made in May 2024 by the Valencian Supreme Court(TSJCV) over the loss of building rights in the protected Serra Gelada Natural Park.
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- Benidorm goes to major court in Spain in last chance bid to fight off €330m compensation bill
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Now, Spain’s Constitutional Court has said it will not hear an appeal to suspend the verdict and sentence.
It stated that the council’s submission made last July does not have ‘special constitutional significance’ required by law to be entertained.
Benidorm mayor, Toni Perez, said that the municipality’s legal department are studying the scope and possible consequences of the ruling to work out the next steps to ‘continue defending the general interest and that of the residents of Benidorm in this cause’.
The €330 million will got to Murcia Puchades Expansion SL and Urban Urban Villajoyosa 2000 SL.
That’s after a lower Alicante court initially gave them under €700,000 and they appealed to the Valencian Supreme Court.
The Murcia Puchades family had three plots totalling over two million square metres in the Serra Gelada
Their legal action started after Benidorm City Council voided urban planning agreements signed in 2003 between then-mayor, Vicente Perez Devesa and several companies.
The agreements were renewed twice in 2010 and 2013 by ex-mayor Agustin Navarro and left open an option to pay compensation to keep constructors out of ‘protected’ areas.
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