ARCHIVED - Paramount Park under fire from ecologists this week

Ecologists demand 21% of the land included in the projected theme park site should be classified as protected green land.

The regional Minister for tourism says the plans for the Paramount park will not be affected by their demands.

The town hall of Alhama de Murcia has had the plans of the land structure for the Paramount Theme park at Alhama de Murcia on display for the last 2 months as part of the bureaucratic processes the municipality is following in order to prepare all the necessary permissions for construction on the park to begin.

Anyone who has any objections to the plans has been given the opportunity to voice them, and this week Ecologists in Action has objected to the inclusion of 32 hectares of land within the entire area the projected development will cover. This is on the grounds that a recent court ruling by the Tribunal Constitucional de Marina de Cope, relating to the Marina de Cope development in Águilas, required that land designated for regional parks, as laid out in 1992, and which had been altered to permit construction or other use subsequent to changes made to the law by the regional government, should be returned to Regional Park status.

The ecologists demanded that 32 hectares, currently within the zone now delineated for the Paramount Park construction, be returned to the Parque-Regional Carrascoy – El Valle, and could no longer remain within the buildable zone.

They also demand that the Regional Government classify the land in question as having a special protection status, which cannot be built on.
The total land included in the plan especial for the Paramount Park is 1.546.497 square metres, lying within the diputation of Las Cañadas. The ecologists claim that Premursa will lose 21% of its total land to the status of regional park.

The Mayor of Alhama de Murcia, Alfonso Fernando Cerón, says that the council has already taken into account the proximity of the regional park when it approved the municipal Plan General de Ordenación, in 2008, as it had included the amplification of an agricultural zone which bordered the LIC zone ( LIC being Location of community Interest status, a protection classification.)

In addition, he said, a 200 metre wide strip had been included within the plans as a protection strip around the Paramount park site, in which no building could take place and which would be green land.

Comment from Pedro Cruz, Regional Minister for Culture and Tourism.
The regional consejero for culture and tourism, Pedro Alberto Cruz, commented on the demands made by the ecologists following this week’s meeting of the Consejo de Gobierno, the regional governmental cabinet meeting.

He stated that the sentence made in the court ruling relating to Marine de Cope against the amendment to the law made by the regional government, the Disposición Adicional Octava de la Ley 1/2001 del Suelo de la Región, did not affect the project relating to the Paramount park in the municipality of Alhama de Murcia. He also stated that lawyers had thoroughly revised the Plan General of Alhama council, which had been passed and agreed with the full consent of all councillors in Alhama in 2008, and the court ruling in relation to the Marina de Cope development and that this did not require any alteration to the Paramount project.

Even if it were decided to make some concession to the plans, in the worst case scenario only 100,000 square metres of the 1.4 million incorporated in the Paramount project would be re-classified, which would , he said, “alter absolutely nothing “ in the existing plans for the park.
"It is important to respect the environment, but at the same time not put a bomb under regional development projects, because otherwise we´ll never emerge from this current situation of economic crisis, “ he said.

The consejero has once again been facing criticism this week following the court decision relating to Marina de Cope, one of the star products the regional government is promoting to develop long term tourism and business development within the region, along with the El Gorguel macro container complex and the Portmán bay regeneration and redevelopment. This week the Chambers of Commerce from the major cities of the region have been vocal in their support for all of the star projects which are threatened by this court ruling, although the regional government remains firm in its commitment to continue with them and bring them to fruition.

«How do people expect us to get out of this crisis; by science, by alchemy?????” Cruz asked, expressing his frustration that “on the one hand they demand action and measures which will take the region forward, but then on the other hand they try and dismantle all the strategic projects we create for regional growth. We have to stop this destructive pleasure which seems to exist for tearing down truly inspirational projects such as this Paramount project, “ he said.

The regional government has indicated that it will study the allegations made by the ecologists.

Meanwhile, Premursa continues its search for financing.