R.I.P.  2003 (Benissa, Alicante)

1. R.I.P.  2003 (Benissa, Alicante) • Was it a hurricane? • Was it a flash flood? • No, it was a Valencian law!!!!

2. Spain • Democratic State, Rule of Law • Member of the European Union • Article 33 of the Spanish Constitution recognises the right to private property. • In favour of the European Constitution.

3. Fine words, but… • In the Valencian Community a land law (the LRAU), allows developers and speculators, together with “friendly” town halls, to take your house, your garden and your land. • If you’re lucky and they don’t take everything, you will have to pay an astronomic sum in order to keep what’s left after the plunder.

4. Why? • In Valencia, developers and town halls can take your house in the so-called “public interest” to: • build rows and rows of terrace houses, • put up blocks of flats, • construct luxury villas, • create golf courses, • or simply to enrich the developers. • Every scrap of land on or near the Valencian coast will soon be covered in concrete. • Long live sustainable development!

5. Under Valencian land laws, This house does not exist: Country property for sale near Alicante, for over €200,000

6. = How can this be? Under Valencian land legislation, a country house and garden, paying town rates, is treated the same as uninhabited, barren land. A blind eye has been turned to this loophole for far too long. It means that the application of the LRAUbenefits big landownersandharms small landowners

7. If you’re a big landowner… • You have 100,000 square metres of rural land. Uninhabited and uncultivated (Value: €10m/2) • The town hall rezones the land. • 50% goes to the town hall for “green zones”, roads and roundabouts and you pay development costs based on the remaining surface area. • You are left with 50,000 m/2 of urban land (Minimum value: €300 m/2). • Enormous capital gains for you and everybody else involved. EVERYBODY’S HAPPY!!!

8. But if you are a small landowner... • You have 2,000 square metres: house and garden… • You pay your rates (town rates) • It’s your home and you have spent a fortune making it the way you want. • An estate agent valued it at €170,000 two months ago.

9. The town hall rezones… • 50% of your land goes for infrastructure and you must pay “urbanisation” costs in order to keep the other half. • If you can’t pay, then you lose more land (this can be as much as85%!! We can back this up). • If you are lucky, your land will be valued at … 15-20 m/2

10. Capital gains? • If your house disappears beneath a roundabout, you will be given another plot (obviously not as good) and the compensation does not even cover the cost of the bricks for your new house. • There is no obligation to notify you personally: your house could be pulled down without you knowing about it beforehand. • You are defenceless.

11. The small householder can’t win • With a bit of luck, you can possibly get yourself a terrace house … with money out of your own pocket (previously you had a villa with pool and garden). • You have been thrown out of your home. Forced eviction … in Europe? • The LRAU syndrome: your house has gone, your life’s work has gone and your health has gone. MORAL HARASSMENT !!

12. Who comes out on top? • The developer got your land for €10 to €20 m/2. • The flats, terrace houses or villas built on your land will be sold for a fortune. Big business ! • Juicy profits can grease many palms. … • Brutal capitalism backed up with Soviet era reasoning.

13. How far will it go? • There are already more than 20,000 affected families in the Valencian Community: Spanish and foreigners, the retired and the employed, modest people and the well-to-do, farmers and professionals... • No more “forced evictions” to make way for real estate rip-offs. • If a developer is interested in your land, let him negotiate with you directly!!! Enough manipulation of the notion of “public interest”. Let supply and demand decide.

14. Hard to believe? Have a look at the European Parliament’s official report: http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/2004_2009/organes/PETI/PETI20040727.htm (Available in German, English, Spanish, French and Swedish.)

15. X = Mr. Camps, President of the Valencian Regional Government:A house is a house and open country is open country When the bulldozers move in there is a difference!!

16. WE DEMAND • The abolition of the LRAU now ! • An end to speculative development ! • A moratorium on new development plans until a new law guarantees: • The right to a home. • Respect for private property. • Respect for the environment. • Sustainable development. STOP Urban Abuses !

17. R.I.P.  2003 (Benissa, Alicante) Nobody believes that this can happenin 21st century Europe • But it is happening! • Especially to modest people who do not have the means to defend themselves.

18. HELP US !! • Send this message to all your contacts: any help is useful. • Send it to your local or national newspapers, local radio station, magazines and journalists. • Send it to your political representatives: local, regional, national, European. • And if you are not Spanish, send it also to your consular and diplomatic representatives. PRESSURE FROM DECENT PEOPLE WILL PUT AN END TO THESE UNJUST AND ABUSIVE PRACTICES

19. Do you want to help further? E-mail or fax the President of the Valencian Regional Government: • cartaciudadano@gva.es • directora_gabinete_pre@gva.es • Fax: (+34) 963863597 We wish to express our support for the Abusos Urbanísticos NO (AUN) fight for the rights of small land and homeowners and in particular the right to private property and a home. We demand that the LRAU be repealed immediately and replaced with a law in full compliance with the Spanish Constitution and with European and International laws protecting human rights, private property and the environment. We also demand an official moratorium on the approval of new development plans (both PGOUs and PAIs). Honorable Sr. D. Francisco Camps Ortiz, Presidente de la Generalitat Valenciana,  Pl. Manises, S/N, 46003-VALENCIA, Fax: (+34) 963863597

20. Do you want to help further? E-mail the Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Petitions: mlibicki@europarl.eu.int We support Petition Nº 609/2003and the MEPs’ report on “urbanistic” abuses in Valencia. Mr. Marcin LIBICKI, Chairman,  Comittee on Petitions, European Parliament, 1048 Brussels, Belgium

21. Do you want to do more? E-mail the Minister of Justice: http://www.justicia.es/servlet/Satellite?cid=1057821035261&pagename=Portal_del_ciudadano%2FPage%2FAtCiudadano&c=page&subseccion=BuzonSugerencias&menu_Buzon=menu_activo&menu=menu_Buzon Apoyamos la petición de la asociación "Abusos Urbanísticos No (AUN)" para que la Fiscalía Anticorrupción investigue y persiga las conductas ilícitas ligadas al urbanismo en la Comunidad Valenciana. We wish to express our support for the petition of the Association Abusos Urbanísticos NO (AUN) calling for the Anticorruption Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute all illegal activities connected with building developments in the Valencian Community. Excmo. Sr. D. Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Ministro de Justicia, San Bernardo, 45 -28015 Madrid

22. We will keep you up to date… aun@abusos-no.org Other language versions on our webpage www.abusos-no.org