THE President of the Junta de Andalucía spoke of a proposal to change legislation that affects ‘thousands and thousands’ of illegal houses in the Andalucían Parliament debate about the region’s autonomy.
There are at least 300,000 illegal houses built on non-urbanisable land which are in a ‘limbo of legal uncertainty’.
“We are going to respond to the situation that affects thousands of families and that cannot be ignored by the Administration,” said Susana Díaz.
“My Government is going to propose to Parliament a change to article 185 of the Planning Law of Andalucía which will make it possible to regularise thousands and thousands of houses in Andalucía,” she added.
The ‘AUAN’ association – which campaigns for the legalisation of these properties – believes that solutions must be found as they do not see the demolition of so many homes as a viable option.
Maura Hillen, AUAN President, said: “Finally there seems to be political as well as social consensus regarding illegal houses in Andalucía.”
She added: “It is not acceptable to ignore these houses pretending that they do not exist because there are thousands of houses that may be affecting the environment that are currently not being recognised and regulated.”
A regularisation decree was passed in 2012 but – as AUAN had predicted at the time – the problem remained unsolved as many of the affected houses were on illegal land divisions.
However, Ecologistas en Accion – a confederation of more than 300 ecologist groups across Spain – are very critical of the announcement and say it irresponsibly encourages illegal construction on rural land.
Commenting on the reforms a spokesperson said: “It is a commitment to illegal urbanism and guarantees impunity for builders and owners of illegal houses.”
