A SPANISH landowner has started bulldozing homes on protected farmland to make way for a golf macroproject on the Costa del Sol.
Sociedad Azucarera Larios has demolished at least one home in the Vega de Maro, near Nerja, to make way for a luxury tourism complex.
However, Olive Press sources suggest that ‘as many as five’ may have already been targeted, knocked or partly demolished.
A meeting today at Nerja town hall with local protest groups is expected to clarify the situation regarding property as well as animals living in the area.
A British expat tenant, who asked not to be named, told the Olive Press: “This is not the way to treat this land. It is a beautiful, pristine 12km stretch of breathtaking coastline – and soon it will be swarming with bulldozers.”
Other expats, several of them also British, have spoken out after Larios demolished the home of Loli Rodriguez last month.
It came in the week we reported that the giant landowner was seeking to evict up to 80 families off the land to make way for the scheme of 680 villas alongside a golf course.
According to our sources, the home (pictured above) was knocked down with ‘her belongings and cats still inside.’
In a moving video posted online, Rodriguez said the sight of her destroyed home brought ‘tears to my eyes.’
“It was such a shock, I felt physically ill,” she said. “There is no coming back from this. It is all gone.”
The demolition comes after Larios announced in December it would not renew more than 400 tenancy agreements in the Vega.
The British mother-of-one, who has lived there for 12 years, claimed Rodriguez had not been properly warned about losing her home.
“I think Larios did this to show they mean business,” she told the Olive Press.
“Loli had just been reassured by a spokesperson that she still had time to move out. Then the next day, bulldozers flattened the house with her belongings and cats still inside.”
Contacted by The Olive Press, Larios declined to comment.
The demolition appears to mark the first step in the massive development, which includes three large hotels to be built on fertile agricultural land beside the sea.
The 150-hectare site near Nerja has become a flashpoint in the battle between environmental protection and what campaigners call ‘corporate greed,’ with fears over water use, food security and the loss of long-standing rural livelihoods.
The plans would see some 50 organic farmers and dozens of expat residents forced to move elsewhere.
For the project to proceed, the land must first be reclassified. It is currently protected agricultural land and holds Cultural Heritage Site (BIC) status, the same designation as the nearby Maro-Cerro Gordo cliffs.
Residents have formed a protest group, Acción por Maro y su Agricultura, to fight the evictions and challenge the project.
The group says it asked the local council for a copy of the demolition permit, but has yet to receive a response.
“Maro is a unique enclave on the Costa del Sol, thanks to its preserved rural character and harmony with the surrounding natural environment,” the group wrote on social media.
“A golf course with residential developments would destroy all of that, and Maro would lose what makes it special. The eviction of the farms is just the first step in paving the way toward a future we do not want.”
Meanwhile, animal rights political party PACMA announced the meeting at Nerja town hall with three councillors, including Javier Rodriguez and Alberto Tome.
The town hall officials for urban planning, security and the environment were expected to clarify the situation moving forwards.
They describe the so-called ‘Plan Larios’ as being bad for the region and likely to affect many animals, including wild cat colonies.
Greenpeace meanwhile told the Olive Press last month: “Another golf course is the last thing this region needs.
“If we have to choose between locals growing food and tourism for a lucky few, we stand with agriculture,” she added.
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