Sentence orders garage knocked down

(Photo: diariodecadiz.es)

VEJER The owners of a garage in El Palmar, in the municipality of Vejer, yesterday had it knocked down after a court decided it was illegal. Built over seven years ago, the family insists that it was on land that had belonged to it 'for three generations'. The spokesperson for the family, Javier Porras, said that the garage, of some 90m2, was used for keeping agricultural machinery such as a tractor and a fertilizer sprayer. They had asked for a pardon on the execution of the sentence but it was denied. They had it knocked down or it would have cost them €20,000 through the Council.

Please help save El Palmar

As we reported here last June, the Junta de Andalucía has given the go-ahead for a mega hotel development at one of Spain's very last remaining unspoilt beaches: El Palmar, near Vejer and Caños de Meca on the Costa de la Luz. There is now a campaign on to Save El Palmar that needs to gather 500,000 signatures so that the area can become what local environmentalists call a model of sustaineability s opposed to yet another environmental disaster. Please take a minute of your time and click here (http://www.salvarelpalmar.es/) where you will find the signature form (picture below). The website and all its links are in Spanish, but the form does have indications in English. We know that many of our readers use this and other nearby beaches regularly, so we would really appreciate it if you could just spare the time...

Junta backtracks on beach development

PROVINCE - VEJER - LA JANDA

The Junta de Andalucía has admitted allegations by the Council of Vejer against planning restrictions at La Janda and will now allow construction of 300 homes and at least 450 hotel rooms at La Mangueta, a stretch that is between the villages of El Palmar and Zahora. A stretch of beach of some 500m is to remain protected. The matter has turned full circle: three months ago, the area was classified as 'specially protected' but the new definition is labelled 'of special tourism opportunity'. Mangueta is one of the very few remaining 'virgin beaches' on the Costa de la Luz, an area that has until now remained unbuilt, although it is surrounded by innumerable illegal buildings stretching from Barbate to the West.