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Hello,
Is there any updates regarding what will happen with Origo Mare in the future. Iv read articles like this one ( https://www.eldiario.es/canariasahora/so...43057.html) but it still feels very unclear what will happen with the area. Anyone here who lives there and knows more? Whats the latest updates?
The reason im asking is because im looking to buy property in fuerteventura.
Hope you can help me out,
Thank you.
2 users say Thank You to pontus for this post
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from Diario: (12.01.22)
In 2022 it will be 20 years since the City Council of La Oliva granted three building permits to build 748 homes and a commercial area in the partial plan Casas de Majanicho. The urbanization had been approved two years earlier, with Domingo González Arroyo in the mayor's office.
What was going to be a tourist oasis in the north of Fuerteventura ended up becoming a disaster: the urbanization project was annulled in the courts, the land is not urban, but rustic, the European Commission has opened an infringement procedure and the Prosecutor's Office asks for 30 years in prison and 82 years of disqualification for the seven politicians and two technicians who endorsed the building license to adapt villas and turn them into a hotel.
In this hornet's nest have decided to get the Minister of Ecological Transition, José Antonio Valbuena, and the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres.
Irreversible damage. Both Valbuena and Torres sign the decree by which the autonomous community assumes "to process and resolve the environmental impact assessment procedure of the Casas de Majanicho urbanization project", by delegation of the City Council of La Oliva, chaired by Pilar González Segura. The Cabildo declined the request of the Consistory to assume this complicated and controversial procedure.
Environmentalists recall that, when on December 9, 2000, the plenary session of La Oliva approved the partial plan, "all the reports of the Government of the Canary Islands were contrary". Now, the regional executive of PSOE, Podemos, NC and ASG, will carry out an environmental assessment that should have been carried out before the green light was given to the urbanization.
For four years, an infringement procedure has been open in the European Commission (number 2017/2113) for having violated the European regulations on environmental protection in the development of urbanization.
A habitat of community interest such as the malpaís was destroyed, of which it is estimated that one million square meters were razed, another habitat of interest was affected such as the "embryonic mobile dunes", of which some 97,000 square meters were invaded, and there was a "transgression" of more than 39,000 square meters of what is currently a Special Protection Area for Birds (SPA).
Demolition. For the Government of the Canary Islands, which has already launched a previous document of the future environmental impact assessment, the demolition of the illegal works seems a taboo conclusion. Although it recognizes that "the restitution of the environment to the previous state" is "the formula that is proposed" when constructions are executed "that violate urban, territorial and environmental legislation", as is the case of what is popularly known as Origo Mare, it avoids considering demolition a viable alternative.
In that previous analysis, the government did not calculate the costs of possible demolitions, which it said would reach "very high figures", which it did not specify, and assumed that the population would reject it. It did not even propose a partial demolition, which would affect a corner of the urbanization that occupies protected areas of the Natura 2000 Network.
The Government's starting thesis is that, if villas are demolished, they would have to be relocated to another area, but within Origo Mare, which it considers impossible: it is "common rustic land" and nothing new could be built, "except for exceptional procedures".
Quote:The regional executive intends to avoid at all costs the demolition of the villas
The undisguised objective of the Government is to legalize everything built and compensate with measures that it can carry out without having to be linked to the regularization of Origo Mare. For example, an environmental restoration plan in the north of the island for just over seven million euros, the declaration of the Special Area of Conservation of the volcanic tube of the Cueva del Llano, where the majorero oppilion lives, a species in danger of extinction, or the expansion of the network of areas of special protection of birds on the Island.
Criminal proceedings. The Government's claim is on the way to clashing head-on with the criteria of the Prosecutor's Office and with the criminal jurisdiction, because it is already clear that there will be a trial for a crime against the planning of the territory allegedly committed in Origo Mare.
In addition to an illegal license to transform villas into a hotel, two buildings were built that could not have been erected. Among the defendants are Óscar Darias, a jurist from the City Council of La Oliva, and Gonzalo María Tortajada, a municipal architect.
In the decree of Torres and Valbuena the Consistory is required to provide the "necessary and mandatory documentation" for this environmental assessment on fait accomplis, which is signed and reflects the "conclusion" of its authors, "people who have sufficient technical capacity".
The Prosecutor's Office emphasizes that the works manifestly contravened the urban planning and territorial planning regulations, because the Fuerteventura Island Plan, approved in 2001, assigns to the lands the classification of protected and specially protected rustic land.
The Government of the Canary Islands has assumed the evaluation of Origo Mare since the City Council lacks its own environmental body, and after the Cabildo majorero, which does have the aforementioned body, has "declined" to sign an agreement with La Oliva for this procedure. A real hot potato.
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Noticias:
Origo Mare in the pillory.
The European Commission has sent an ultimatum to Spain on Thursday to repair the environmental damage caused by the construction of a hotel complex without environmental assessment in La Oliva, a protected area of Fuerteventura; a project for which Brussels initiated sanctioning proceedings in 2017 and which will be taken to the Court of Justice of the EU if no action is taken within two months, Europa Press advances
The notice takes the form of a reasoned opinion, the second phase of an infringement procedure, and gives two months to the national authorities to "respond and adopt the necessary measures", according to the Community services, which add that otherwise the Community Executive may raise the matter before the European Justice.
In a statement, the Commission explains that it asks Spain to "repair the damage to the environment and, in particular, to a Natura 2000 area of great importance for the conservation of rare bird species caused by the construction of a hotel complex in La Oliva".
Brussels has taken into account that the competent authorities approved the project in 2001 without having assessed the effects of the project on the environment, despite being an obligation contained in the European habitats directive, and regrets that they have gone ahead with the construction works even after the courts declared the project null and void in 2011.
The Eu Executive decided to open a sanctioning file for this in 2017, but in these years the Spanish authorities "have not fulfilled any of their commitments to correct the environmental effects of the complex".
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Radio Sintonia:
Ecological Transition approves the conditional environmental impact statement of the Casas de Majanicho project.
José Antonio Valbuena stressed the importance of this procedure, since it was a work executed without environmental assessment, on which an infringement procedure of the European Commission weighed since 2017.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Autonomous Commission for Environmental Assessment, has approved on Tuesday the Conditional Environmental Impact Statement of the urbanization project Casas de Majanicho, in the municipality of La Oliva (Fuerteventura).
The regional councilor responsible for the Area, José Antonio Valbuena, recalled that the European Commission opened a file for this project to Spain in 2017 in urban and environmental matters, since the work was developed in a protected area without having the mandatory environmental assessment and in breach of the habitats and birds directive. "This ex post agreement is a milestone of great importance for the regional executive, but also for the State, since it complies with the requirements established by Europe and regularizes a work that has meant a significant outlay for all the administrations involved," Valbuena added.
This declaration includes a series of corrective and compensatory measures for the project, such as the restoration of degraded areas in the Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPAs), especially in the eastern part of the complex; the elimination of structures or lampposts from urbanization that generate visual impact; the cleaning and collection of debris, solid urban waste and plant remains that are dumped on the northern margin of the urbanization; the clearing of the road north of the urbanization; the restoration of the southern area of Caleta del Hierro; or the obligation to use luminaires with low light pollution; among others.
A Monitoring Committee will be created for all the measures contemplated in the conditional Environmental Impact Statement, which will be represented by the City Council of La Oliva and the Government of the Canary Islands, among other entities. No new works may be carried out in this area of action defined by the Casas de Majanicho urbanization project, except those that are reflected in the corrective measures or those that entail an environmental improvement and do not involve an increase in the built surface.
The Government of the Canary Islands also agreed to expand the Special Protection Areas for Birds in 2,356 hectares to promote the protection of this space, in areas such as Betancuria, Lajares, Esquinzo, Vallebrón and other enclaves of the north coast of the island of Fuerteventura. On the other hand, it is proposed that Cueva del Llano becomes part of the Natura 2000 NETWORK as a Site of Community Importance (SCI).
The Conditional Environmental Impact Statement also establishes the obligation to adopt measures contemplated within the action plan for the recovery of the habitat of the hubara and other steppe species affected by the Casas de Majanicho project. This section includes the recovery of 15 gavias, a typical ethnographic element of Fuerteventura included in the island hydrological plan.
Finally, among other aspects, it includes the need to undertake actions to promote the protection, conservation and recovery of historical heritage in the vicinity of the work, always supervised and approved by the Historical Heritage Service of the Cabildo de Fuerteventura, within the scope of its competences.
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Hello, lovely people! I hope you are all doing well.
I was wondering if anyone here can shed some light on the Origo Mare development. I have conducted extensive research, and it appears that this development is still in dispute, with an ongoing court case in the European court. This suggests to me that the future of the development is uncertain.
However, I am aware that many real estate agents are actively promoting the sale of these houses, assuring that the legal matters have been resolved, and the future of the houses is secure. Have I missed any significant news on this matter?
I am quite fond of the houses there, but I am hesitant to invest my Money in a property that could potentially face legal issues. As we all know, such situations can arise in Spain when properties are not built in compliance with the law.
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Hi Suncatcher, welcome to the forum.
As I understand it, the case by the European Union is still pending, when or if it will ever get to court is anyone's guess. As we are currently looking to buy another property, we did ask our solicitor and her reply was don't even think about it!
There are some nice properties for sale and at very reasonable costs, but only buy if you are prepared to see it demolished at some future point.
As for the Agents, I always thought it was a given, don't trust a single word they say!
Tom.
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Good morning Tom,
Thank you for your response! I admit I can be a bit naive at times, as I tend to trust people easily. However, you're right about real estate agents – I should be more cautious, as their focus is often on commission. Regarding the properties in Origo Mare, they've lost some of their appeal now. Many have been vacant for over 10 years! As for prices, they've skyrocketed recently. Properties there are no longer affordable, with prices now comparable to other parts of the island (legally built). This made me wonder if there's been a significant change in the unstable legal situation and the future of Origo Mare
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