New Development plans
Since 2004 Nueva Andalucía and Las Chapas have registered the highest increases in the population, which now exceeds 140,000 people
It is the hardest part of any revision of an Urban Plan (PGOU), whether in a town of large dimensions, where endless time is needed, or a small municipality where marking out the areas and deciding their future use is an equally minute task but easier to perform. The final objective is the same: update the services and open areas, the basic infrastructure such as electricity, water supplies and drainage and, especially, the housing stock to meet the demands of an increasing population.
The population registers continue to grow on a daily basis and the property market, although it seems an odd thing to say at a time when the construction industry is at such a low, should be prepared for better times in the forthcoming years, when the crisis lessens. This is especially so in Marbella, which has hardly any ‘stock’ of new properties. The economic crisis didn’t have a sudden effect on the town’s construction industry; it had been slowing down for a long time beforehand.
The absence of town planning control in accordance with the law began during the chaos of the Gil era, leaving Marbella full of empty urban spaces, with blocks of buildings spread all over the place and, what is worse, in many cases lacking even basic facilities to guarantee the quality of life.
Unconnected growth
The report which the Junta de Andalucía recently presented to the Committee of Territory and Town Planning of Andalucía (COTUA), which received unanimous support, provides a revealing picture of the urban situation: “Starting from the existing situation in Marbella, where urban development has been unconnected, the Plan aims for a model of a compact garden city”.
In its place, the new design for the town drawn up by architect Manuel González Fustegueras, firstly under the auspices of the regional government and then Marbella Town Hall, outlines new development to fill in the network of empty spaces between Guadalmina and Cabopino. In total, on paper, 26,477 new homes are planned in the next eight years, 35 per cent of them protected to cover the shortage of affordable properties which has been a problem in the town for almost two decades. “The law stipulates 30 per cent of land reserved for this purpose but we are trying to go further than that”, says Pablo Moro, councillor for Town Planning, about the philosophy behind the PGOU, which will come into force in mid March when the Town Hall has corrected the errors and made the required amendments.
The urban growth will be led by the southern area of San Pedro, the eastern part of Guadaiza (which will link San Pedro and Nueva Andalucía) and the east of Marbella. These have all been labelled areas of opportunity under the Land Organisation Plan, or are central areas where stations for the coastal railway will be located. Although it still seems far off, the railway will transform certain areas, for example La Ermita, as well as transferring the industrial estate to the north of La Cañada shopping centre.
In just these three areas (Guadaiza, southern San Pedro and east of Marbella) there will be 8,781 homes, almost one third of those which figure in the Urban Plan until 2018, while in Nagüeles or what is known as ‘Chorraero’, in the north of Marbella, more than 2,600 will be built. In Las Chapas the plans are different and include a mixture of uses, whether it be tourism and residential or commercial activities. Two thousand homes are also planned in Realejo, Río Real and La Paz.
“We are returning to the original idea of Marbella, with no high-rise buildings and plenty of open space “, explains Sr. Moro. So much so that the number of parks and green areas is five times that stipulated under the Ley de Ordenación Urbanística (LOUA) of Andalucía. The ratio will be 27.5 square metres per inhabitant, bearing in mind that within eight years the population is expected to reach 173,000.
Registered population
This is not an exaggerated prediction. The latest Town Hall statistics show that the population register has just exceeded 140,000 entries, with 140,429 people now registered as living in the town. However, the real figure could be double or even triple this number. In the last five years, between 2004 and 2009, the population has increased by 14.7 per cent. The most spectacular increases, according to the National Institute of Statistics, were in Las Chapas, where the population has risen by 49 per cent to reach 12,517, and in Nueva Andalucía, with an increase of 34.5 per cent and 13,879 inhabitants. Meanwhile in San Pedro the population register has shot up by 18 per cent in the last five years to 33,673 and in Marbella by 6.3 per cent to 74,554.
If the trend over the next few years is similar, combined with the planned increase in residential tourism, the plans for new housing will be in line with reality, more to counteract the lack of new construction in recent years than the lack of an Urban Plan which complied with existing legislation. “Very little has been built in recent years and there is little housing stock, which is something very positive for the town”, says Ricardo Arranz, president of the Andalusian Federation of Urbanisers and Residential Developers. This is a positive view of something which has made the planning difficult. The principal problem was the difficulty of putting the Plan into effect, and the silence of council and Junta officials about the matter. “A lot will depend on what the councillor for Land Organisation decides, to see whether administering the Plan can be made easier”, he admits, referring to the system of compensation of land which is necessary in order to make homes legal.
Nor does he have good words to say about the model of the town under a PGOU which he describes as “diabolical”. In his opinion, vetoing construction north of the motorway – even though it has been authorised in other municipalities – will congregate housing towards the sea, “where they were already saying that Marbella was overcrowded; it makes no sense”. Nor is he pleased that big developments are being planned to coincide with projects for which no dates have been set, such as the coastal railway and the Guadaiza area of opportunity. “On paper it seems fantastic, but they will have to negotiate with the owners of the land, because they have rights, and that will take years”, he warns. Time will tell whether the PGOU will resolve the municipality’s problems or will fall by the wayside.
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