The most spectacular violator of planning laws has been the council in the Costa del Sol town of Marbella. Planning chiefs allegedly took bribes to grant licences to 30,000 houses. In 2006, police arrested 28 people, including the mayor, Marisol Yagüe, and the former head of planning, Juan Antonio RocaNicolás - the alleged mastermind of the fraud. Police investigating allegations of corruption and fraud seized property and goods worth a total of £1.7bn.Roca, 53, is said to have approved 600 developments during his 15 years in office, taking a 10 per cent 'commission' to ignore planning restrictions and becoming one of Spain's richest men.
Britons are being scared off buying property on Spain's Mediterranean coast, with the number of potential buyers plummeting after a series of corruption and planning scandals and the announcement of plans to demolish thousands of illegally built homes.New figures,by the Costa del Sol Association of Constructors and Promoters, show a dramatic fall in the number of non-Spaniards purchasing villas and apartments in the popular tourist area. Foreign buyers, of whom an estimated 40 per cent are British, spent €540m (£406m) on property in the area in the first 10 months of last year. Over the same period in 2005, the figure was €1.84bn (£1.38bn) - a drop of 70 per cent in two years.Economists cite higher mortgage repayments, oversupply and concerns about the economy as factors. But José Prado, president of the association in Málaga, said: 'The single most significant factor in this horrific decline has been the threat of demolition.'
The most spectacular violator of planning laws has been the council in the Costa del Sol town of Marbella. Planning chiefs allegedly took bribes to grant licences to 30,000 houses. In 2006, police arrested 28 people, including the mayor, Marisol Yagüe, and the former head of planning, Juan Antonio RocaNicolás - the alleged mastermind of the fraud. Police investigating allegations of corruption and fraud seized property and goods worth a total of £1.7bn.Roca, 53, is said to have approved 600 developments during his 15 years in office, taking a 10 per cent 'commission' to ignore planning restrictions and becoming one of Spain's richest men.
Britons are being scared off buying property on Spain's Mediterranean coast, with the number of potential buyers plummeting after a series of corruption and planning scandals and the announcement of plans to demolish thousands of illegally built homes.New figures,by the Costa del Sol Association of Constructors and Promoters, show a dramatic fall in the number of non-Spaniards purchasing villas and apartments in the popular tourist area. Foreign buyers, of whom an estimated 40 per cent are British, spent €540m (£406m) on property in the area in the first 10 months of last year. Over the same period in 2005, the figure was €1.84bn (£1.38bn) - a drop of 70 per cent in two years.Economists cite higher mortgage repayments, oversupply and concerns about the economy as factors. But José Prado, president of the association in Málaga, said: 'The single most significant factor in this horrific decline has been the threat of demolition.'
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