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Wednesday, March 30, 2005

MORE FOREIGNERS
The latest figures from the National Statistics Institute show that
foreigners are in the rise in the Valencian Community. The latest study
shows that there are some 464,317 foreigners registered in the Community- 10% of the actual population. This figure represents a 1% increase over the foreigners registered last year, whilst the towns of AlicanteProvince where the foreigners now outnumber the locals reads: Alcalali,Benijofar, Benitatxell, Calpe, Lliber, Rojales, San Fulgencio, SanMiguel de Salinas, Teulada and Els Poblets.
(Courtesy of Valencia Life Network)

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

The letter sent in to El País (with 50 signatories) was published on Thursday, 24 March 2005. We are enclosing the published version in Spanish and a translation into English of the complete, unedited letter, together with a translation into English of the extract from the interview that motivated us to reply.
It is still possible to write in and give your opinion on Mr Soler's interview, or indeed any related issue. Your letter should be no more than 30 typed lines. You should indicate the name, address, telephone and ID or passport number of the authors. E­mail: cartasdirector@elpais.es
Published in EL PAÍS
CARTAS AL DIRECTOR
"Sin importancia"
Janice S. Batterbee y 49 firmas más
EL PAÍS - 24-03-2005
La actitud de Juan Bautista Soler, anterior presidente de los promotores valencianos, ilustra perfectamente por qué los pequeños propietarios víctimas de la LRAU tenemos que defendernos. Invitar a "no dar más importancia al asunto" es insultante e hiriente para las personas que han perdido su terreno o sus casas bajo rotondas innecesarias, o han salido arruinadas por cargas urbanísticas abusivas y desorbitadas, amañadas por la colusión de ediles y promotores sin escrúpulos.
Utiliza una argumentación simplista y superficial en defensa de una ley que no es defendible. Ni los pequeños propietarios han frenado el desarrollo, ni han sacado beneficio de él. Y, por favor, ahórrese los tópicos de siempre y el toque de xenofobia ("era muy cómodo venir aquí y disfrutar de nuestro clima, nuestro paisaje, etc."). Esta ley trata igual de mal a españoles y extranjeros. De todos modos, estamos en Europa y el clima y el paisaje son de todos.
Lo de "infraviviendas" también es inexacto. Las víctimas de la LRAU no viven en favelas. En otros países de Europa es posible elegir una vida rústica.
Somos muchos que sabemos que la LRAU es una licencia para robar a personas que no han hecho nada más que comprar legalmente una casa.
Translation of original letter:
LRAU: an "unimportant" affair
Mr Juan Bautista Soler, former President of Valencian promoters and, as such a biased party in urban matters, is the perfect example of why small homeowners like us, victims of the LRAU, have to defend ourselves. His call "not to give the affair further importance" is insulting and wounding for people who have lost their land or their houses beneath unnecessary roundabouts, or who have been ruined by abusive and excessive urbanisation costs, cooked up by collusion between municipal councillors and unscrupulous promoters.
The ex-president of the promoters, who undoubtedly possesses more money than understanding or compassion, employs simplistic and superficial arguments in favour of an indefensible law. Small landowners have not slowed down development, nor have they gained from it. They have been victims of the application of the LRAU.
And, please, spare us the usual clichés and the touch of xenophobia ("it was very convenient to come here and enjoy our climate, our scenery," etc.). Yet again that old falsehood that complaints come only from a handful of foreigners in bad faith. No, Mr Soler. This law treats Spanish and foreigners equally badly; there are many, many Spanish victims. In any case, we are in Europe and the climate and scenery belong to everyone.
A "Substandard" dwelling is an inexact description, too. The victims of the LRAU do not live in shacks. In other European countries it is quite possible to choose a country life in homes with no urban street lighting and accessible by narrow lanes. What's wrong with that? In other countries, those people are allowed to live in peace. Here, unwanted and unnecessary infrastructure is imposed with the sole aim of stealing our land and filling the pockets of "agentes urbanizadores" and their corrupt political cronies. Many of us think that the LRAU is a licence to steal from people who have done nothing more than to buy a house legally, very often in a rural environment, and all they want to do is live in peace without harming anything or anyone.
Signed by 50 people.
Extract from the interview given by Mr Soler to El País, published on 13 March 2005
Q/ What do you think about the movement against urban abuses?
A/ It is a movement centred in the area of Jávea and Dénia. It was very agreeable to come here and enjoy our climate, our scenery and yet want to have substandard dwellings with septic tanks, with no street lighting, dwellings from another era. The law set out to make it possible to reorganise all these zones, giving them sewer systems, electrical installations and, logically, the owner has to pay in cash or with land. It is too easy to refuse to pay and, on top of that, claim that you're being taken for a ride. We should give no further importance to this attitude.

GATA DE GORGOS
PROJECT NOW TO GO AHEAD The planned Les Sorts Urbanization in Gata de Gorgos is now to go ahead,it has been revealed, with the initial work staring in less that two weeks. The go-ahead was given under the Valencian land laws - LRAU, and despite the virulent protests of the landowners. Not making matters any easier is that the Gata branch of the Socialist Party, which has publicly forcefully rejected the Urbanization, is itself undergoing a period of crisis with at least two of its high-ranking members resigning over the last fortnight.
BENISSA
Meanwhile yesterday it was revealed that the AUN collective has presented a letter of complaint to Benissa Town Hall about the plans to urbanize the only remaining part of virgin coastline left between Moraira and Altea. The area, known as La Llobella had undergone a project from several urbanizers to build up to 172 homes, but the AUN complaint letter states that the project has not had any environmental studies carried out, and that the project should not be allowed to go ahead until these are completed and studies.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

VALENCIAN L.R.A.U. LAND LAWS!

If you have land problems, if you want to know more about the fight against the LRAU,
if you want to come along and talk or receive information…..
come to:

CLUB FUSTERA
approx halfway between Calpe and Moraira on the coastal road,
(just up from the Asia Restaurant)

Wednesday 30th March between 4 and 6 p.m.

For more information, phone Jan (English) at 600 837 054
e.mail aun@abusos-no.org or mailmaster@abusos-no.org

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Looking back, now that most of the Spanish and foreign language papers are out following our recent manifestation, I believe we have every reason to be pleased.

We had two reports on SKY news, and apparently some coverage on RTE and Canal Nao. Alicante TV too planned a report.
The Wednesday before the event, Gandia TV devoted an hour to our issues,
interviewing Enrique, Lisa and me. The local Onda cero station (OCI) had several reportsbefore and after the 12th. I heard reports on Radio SER as well.
Thanks to all concerned in making the demonstration a great success. Media coverage isn't an end in itself of course, but it is certainly an important means to achieve our goals. Interestingly, of the material I have seen or heard, nothing has been critical of our show of strength and solidarity. Indeed , there appears to be general support and encouragement. We hope the message gets through to the ValencianGovernment and as needed to the authorities in Madrid. Charles Svoboda

Julio Iglesias accused of landgrab with 1,500-villa holiday complexBy Peter Upton in Valencia(Filed: 13/03/2005) Expat Telegraph.

Julio Iglesias, Spain's singing superstar, has a reputation as the housewives' favourite - except, that is, among villagers on the Costa Blanca, who accuse the crooner of exploiting Valencia's controversial "land-grab" laws to build a development worth an estimated £370 million.

Julio Iglesias: reputed to be worth £550m
Iglesias has a near 50 per cent stake in a property company that is planning to build 1,500 villas and a golf course on unspoilt land belonging to poor farmers in the mountains near the resort of Benidorm.
The plan has prompted fury among locals in the village of Benichembla, which numbers 120 British expatriates among its population of 350. Villagers accuse the mayor, Aurelio Llinares, of signing a secret deal with the developers and are campaigning for his resignation.
Valencia's controversial laws, passed in 1994, were aimed at speeding up urban development but were poorly drafted, enabling some unscrupulous property developers to ask for land to be reclassified from rural to urban without the owners' permission.
Property owners have seen their land compulsorily purchased at prices far below commercial values. To make matters worse, they have received huge bills for resulting development, including charges for new roads, street lighting and drainage.
Last week, Mr Llinares confirmed that the company, Coll de Rates SA, which is based in Benidorm, would be invoking the "land grab" law. He also said that local people would be charged towards the infrastructure of the new development.
"It is the law," Mr Llinares declared. "This will benefit the whole community." Locals, however, have called for the plan to be scrapped.
Feelings are running high in Benichembla, which sits at the upper end of the Jalon Valley. Golden eagles fly in the skies above the village and wild boar roam the wooded mountain slopes, where farmers tend almond and olive trees.
Locals want to know why Iglesias, who was once named the richest entertainer in Europe by Euro Business magazine and is reputed to be worth £550 million, is involved in such a scheme.
Alan Gray, 61, a retired architect who has lived in Spain for 10 years, said: "I came here to live because it is a quiet and beautiful place. Everyone is horrified by what has been concluded in secret.
"This valley will be ruined. This deal was signed two months before anyone in the town knew about it, and it gives the developers permission to use Valencian law to take what land they want, pay just €3 (£2) per square metre in compensation, and then charge people for infrastructure costs of the new development.
"Three-bedroom houses around here sell for about €350,000 (£246,000). The new properties will cost at least that, and if they build 1,500, the return will be huge.
"We have called on the mayor to quit, but he won't. The feeling against him is such that he has to go to another town if he wants a drink. He dare not come into a bar here."
Kenneth McNeil, 58, a former music industry manager from Blackpool, is renovating a house on the mountain side close to Benichembla. "My property could be right in the path of this development," he said. "The feeling here is such that if they take land and property, in the end somebody is going to get hurt."
A spokesman for Coll de Rates confirmed that Iglesias owned almost 50 per cent of the company but would not comment further on the proposed development, beyond saying: "I think the people of Benichembla have been misinformed about the company's intentions."
He said that under the deal, the company would pay the local town hall €900,000 (£634,000), of which one third has been handed over.
Iglesias, who is believed to be in Florida, could not be reached for comment.

Monday, March 14, 2005

The land problems affect every single person in Valencia to some degree and everyone from the Comunidad should have been on the Protest. But that would be the ideal and an impossibility.
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Thanks to everyone who did take part on Saturday and who helped to make it a successful day (and those who tried but failed to get to the Protest due to transport and/or parking problems).
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The AUN and its members wish to send their sincere thanks to the organizers of the autobuses for the Protest in Valencia on Saturday. Janice, Phillipa, Maureen, Clare, Lidia, Carole, Sonia, Dagmar, Jean, Barbara and Mary – our thanks to you all.

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From Valencia Life Magazine

TAKING IT TO THE STREETSAbout 2,000 people - 1,000 according to the police - took to the streetsof Valencia yesterday to protest the Valencian Land laws better known as LRAU. Amongst the demonstrators were members of several ecological organizations whose areas are directly affected by the building fever that is gripping the Community. On reaching the Valencian parliament building, a manifesto was read in which a moratorium on all building wasdemanded 'until the Valencian Parliament votes into law new measures that are just, fair and in harmony with all the parties concerned, instead of merely satisfying the construction industry as it currently does'. Speaking as the demonstration broke up, Charles Svoboda, thePresident of the AUN collective stated that in his view the law to replace the current LRAU is tantamount to legalizing fraud. Mr. Svoboda added that next month a special Commission from the European Union would be visiting the Valencian Community to examine the effects of the LRAU.
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TO READ THE MANIFESTO SEE THE AUN WEBSITE. www.abusos-no.org

Thursday, March 03, 2005

AN OPEN LETTERThe AUN collective yesterday made public an open letter it wrote toPrime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, accusing him of inaction.The letter begins by reminding the Prime Minister that representativesof the collective handed him a letter and a complete dossier when hevisited Alicante University last September, and at the time he statedthat he would look into it. After praising Foreign Minister Miguel AngelMoratinos for stating that he would look into the problem during ameeting with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, the open letter ends:"For those of us who for the past ten years have constantly sufferedabuse at the hands of the LRAU, we ask you, Mr. Prime Minister for yourcomprehension and support."

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

EU Constitution defends land grab victims
NEWS Staff ReporterCampaigners against the controversial LRAU land law that affects non developed land in the Valencia Region have found a new battle horse in the EU constitution favoured by voters in Spain on Sunday. Abusos Urbanísticos No (AUN) has reminded regional authorities that under the new constitution, property rights are not just ‘basic’ as claimed in the Spanish Constitution, but now become ‘fundamental’ within the EU Magna Carta.A spokesman for AUN points out that the wording of Article II.77 of the EU treaty could not be more explicit as it states that legally acquired property cannot be expropriated nor can owners be forced to cede property without definable and justified reasons of ‘public benefit’. The article highlights the fact that in any case compensation must be at market value.Charles Svoboda, president of AUN, says: “There is no way that the LRAU, and its replacement, the LUV, can be considered to be compatible with the rights to be confirmed in the Constitutional Treaty.”

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

PROTEST MARSCH
gegen dieVALENCIANISCHEN
RAUMORDNUNGSGESETZE LRAU/LUV
nehmen Sie teil an unserem Protestmarsch
Samstag, den 12.März 2005
(tel. Hubert 96 649 9395)
________________________________________________________
PROTEST DEMONSTRATIE
tegen de VALENCIAANSE ONTEIGENINGSWETTE LRAU/LUV
neem dan deel aan onze Protest Demonstratie.
Zaterdag, de 12.Maart 2005
(tel. Hubert 96 649 9395)
_____________________________________________________________
PROTEST MARCH RE
VALENCIAN LAND LAWS L.R.A.U./LUV
JOIN US ON THE PROTEST MARCH
SATURDAY …. MARCH 2005
(tel. Jan 600 837 054)
_____________________________________________________________
CONCENTRACION DE PROTESTA Contra
La LEY REGULADORA DE LA ACTIVIDAD
URBANISTICA y LEY URBANISTICA VALENCIA
tome parte en nuestra concentracion de protesta
El Sabado 12 de Marzo 2005
(tel. Conrado 96 574 7050)

Autobussen
Busse werden in verschiedenen Regionen bereitgestellt.
Vamos a poner autobuses a disposicion en diversas areas.
Coaches arranged from the following areas
Alicante Janice 96 513 9268/629 286 560
Villajoyosa Maureen 619 981 072
Benidorm Clare 96 681 1026 (11-18hrs)
Altea Lidia 96 584 2229 (08-16hrs)
Calpe Carole 639 637 520
Benissa (town) Jean 96 648 0244
Benissa (Costa) Sonia 678 237 184
Javea Barbara 649 696 223
Ondara Mary 96 647 6637

e.mail mailmaster@abusos-no.org

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