Wednesday, August 25, 2004
AUN members Sonia and Bill Gale today made the front page (and an inside article) of the Western Daily Press (a newspaper for the SW of England) with yet more media coverage for the LRAU land problems. Below is the article from the website for the newspaper.
BID TO END THE PAIN IN SPAIN
09:30 - 25 August 2004
Campaigners last night vowed to fight to the end to save their Spanish holiday homes from the clutches of greedy property tycoons. Thousands of Britons face losing their dream villas in the sun under Draconian Valencian land laws.It means developers and local authorities on the sought-after coastline can take up to 70 per cent of a person's land without paying. The ex-pats and holiday home owners can also be forced to pay up to £100,000 for unwanted services.Many of them have saved all their working lives to retire in the warmth of the Costa, and won't give up without a fight. Euro MPs are backing their campaign and plan to lean on the Spanish authorities.Last night South West MEP Giles Chichester pledged to lobby the Brussels parliament to act. "People are outraged and upset that having bought their dream home fair and square, they face having up to half their land taken away from them," he said."And to rub salt in their wounds, they have been told they will have to pay money towards the project as well. I think it would make anyone incandescent with rage."Grandparents Sonia and Bill Gale, from Axminster, Devon, are among those affected by the land-grab law. Yesterday they told the Western Daily Press they would continue to battle plans to build on their garden in the village of Las Fustera, on the outskirts of Benissa.Mrs Gale, 55, said: "All we wanted was a quiet place in the sun to get away from the chilly British winters and maybe to eventually move there. What's happened is unbelievable but we are fighting it."Earlier this year, 10,000 people signed a petition calling for action against the land-grab and presented it to the European Parliament. Mr Chichester said he would press the EU Petitions Committee when parliament resumes next week.Charles Svoboda, who is leading a campaign on behalf of Britons, Germans and other expatriates, welcomed the move.
BID TO END THE PAIN IN SPAIN
09:30 - 25 August 2004
Campaigners last night vowed to fight to the end to save their Spanish holiday homes from the clutches of greedy property tycoons. Thousands of Britons face losing their dream villas in the sun under Draconian Valencian land laws.It means developers and local authorities on the sought-after coastline can take up to 70 per cent of a person's land without paying. The ex-pats and holiday home owners can also be forced to pay up to £100,000 for unwanted services.Many of them have saved all their working lives to retire in the warmth of the Costa, and won't give up without a fight. Euro MPs are backing their campaign and plan to lean on the Spanish authorities.Last night South West MEP Giles Chichester pledged to lobby the Brussels parliament to act. "People are outraged and upset that having bought their dream home fair and square, they face having up to half their land taken away from them," he said."And to rub salt in their wounds, they have been told they will have to pay money towards the project as well. I think it would make anyone incandescent with rage."Grandparents Sonia and Bill Gale, from Axminster, Devon, are among those affected by the land-grab law. Yesterday they told the Western Daily Press they would continue to battle plans to build on their garden in the village of Las Fustera, on the outskirts of Benissa.Mrs Gale, 55, said: "All we wanted was a quiet place in the sun to get away from the chilly British winters and maybe to eventually move there. What's happened is unbelievable but we are fighting it."Earlier this year, 10,000 people signed a petition calling for action against the land-grab and presented it to the European Parliament. Mr Chichester said he would press the EU Petitions Committee when parliament resumes next week.Charles Svoboda, who is leading a campaign on behalf of Britons, Germans and other expatriates, welcomed the move.
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