Date Published: 22/04/2022
ARCHIVED - Private land around the Playa de Percheles in Mazarron to be forcibly put into public hands
ARCHIVED ARTICLE Mazarrón intends to seize nearly 50,000m2 of private land to ensure its “environmental, archaeological and natural” conservation
Mazarrón Town Council’s Urban Planning Department, headed by Councillor Ginés Campillo, has initiated the procedures to expropriate the area of land around the
Playa de Percheles beach in order to prevent and solve the current problems of degradation suffered by the natural area.
Some of the land around the beach is already public property, but other parts belong to private landowners. This land is not suitable for development, so they can’t build on it. In fact, much of it is already protected by ordinances on conservation of areas of environmental importance, archaeological significance or natural beauty. In the area of the district of Cañada de Gallego, for instance, there are three separate archaeological sites: Cueva de Percheles, Cueva Medieval de Percheles and Villa de la Playa de Percheles.
In addition, there is a large strip of land that runs parallel to the coast and is classified under the General Systems of Open Spaces (SGEL) for the use and recreation of all the inhabitants of Mazarrón. This categorization of the land aims to ensure “the protection of the environment in a comprehensive manner; protection of the landscape and vegetation; the natural fauna; the improvement of environmental conditions; protection of cultural heritage and the goods that are part of the archaeological sites”, according to the technical team of the Town Planning Department.
This strip of land is almost entirely in public ownership. However, seven plots remain in private hands, which currently places a limit on how this large, open space can be used by local residents and visitors. Even the path to access the Playa de Percheles beach is privately owned.
For all these reasons, in order to achieve the objectives set out in the town’s General Urban Development Plan and “to avoid interference that disturbs the public and protectionist nature of the area, it is vitally important to acquire the small privately owned plots of land” which comprise “a total area of 46,654.81m2 affected by the present expropriation”, as stated in the technical reports of the dossier submitted by the Town Planning Department.
The Council is also in the process of making other positive changes to the municipality’s infrastructure. Repairs to the bridge between Sectors B and C of the Camposol residential development in Mazarrón are
nearing completion just two weeks after they started, to the delight of local residents.
Image: Ayuntamiento de Mazarrón