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David Pinchess 
Dave had just turned 67, and had lived on the outskirts of Albox for the last 5 years. Dave is survived by his wife Wendy, two lovely daughters and four grandchildren.
Dave was very well known in and about Albox. He had a happy go lucky personality, a smiling face, and was always ready to cheer up everybody he spoke to with a funny word.
He was an enthusiastic supporter of Albox football club for the last 4 years and, as well as being a member of the AUAN, he also supported the British Legion and other associations.
Before moving to Albox, Dave (and Wendy) were born, and grew up in Leicester. Dave was a fully qualified electrician, and was always ready to help people with any electrical problem.
Dave will be greatly missed by all his family, friends and neighbours. Our deepest condolences go out to Wendy and his loving family.
LATEST NEWS
Spanish property: the fiesta's over
Miles
Brignall, The Guardian, 10th May 2008
Polaris World
invites you to 'live the dream' at its gigantic golf resorts. But as the
market sours, is it turning into a nightmare? Miles Brignall reports from
Murcia.
More
...
Anti Planning Abuse Meeting in Mojacar
- Cuidadanos Europeos pledges support on urban planning
- New
Urban Abuse Organasiation launched in Levante
region
AULAN Press
Release, Mojacar, 3rd May 2008
On the 3rd May last, a
meeting was held at the Best Hotel in Marina de la Torre, Mojacar, Almeria at
which almost 400 people attended.
The meeting was chaired by Lennox
Napier of the political party Cuidadanos Europeos de Mojacar and was organised
with their assistance to discuss the planning problems arising in the
area.
More ...
Property Rights & Wrongs - AUAN Presidents
Speech in Mojacar
AUAN Press Release, 3rd May
2008
My name is Bob Preston and I am the
president of a non Political organisation called Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora
No (the AUAN). Our organisation is made up of some 300 ordinary men and women
from the Almanzora Valley who have come to realise that their life savings have
been spent, in good faith, on a nightmare rather than a dream.
Pictured: Angel Medina (vice mayor Mojacar), Charles Svboda(AUN),
Bob Preston (AUAN), Helen Prior.
We moved to Spain to
enjoy a country with a friendly people and a warm climate. We spent our life
savings in Spain attracted by the developers' promises of a dream home in the
sun. We acted in good faith. We took the advice of our solicitors, our town
halls, our architects and we trusted that our developers were regulated by the
urban planning authorities.
We first got together, as neighbours and
friends, in late 2006 to discuss our concerns about the failure of our
respective builders to deliver legal paperwork and basic services. We discovered
to our cost and our great distress that our homes are 'illegal' because they
were built in breach of the urban planning regulations.
We formed the AUAN
in January 2007 and organized a march of some 600 to 800 people in Albox to
demonstrate our concern about what had happened in the Almanzora Valley. Since
then we have organized, we have researched and we have campaigned to get to the
truth of the matter. The truth that we have uncovered can only be described as
scandalous.
More...
Zurgena - Latest
As published in
Levante Levante Lifestyle Magazine April 2008
Investigations into illegal properties led to the arrest of
Zurgena Mayor, Cándido Trabalón.
After two days in prison, the court in
Huércal-Overa charged Trabalón with bribery, corruption and crimes against the
land planning law, although he was released without bail.
Also arrested and
charged with the same offences was Zurgena’s Town Planning councillor Manuel
Tijeras. Local businessmen Tomás Zurano and Antonio López Rueda were charged
with bribery and crimes against the land planning law; Zurano was also charged
with contempt of court for failing to attend Junta de Andalucía proceedings
relating to the paralysis of a building works on a property
promotion.
Former municipal architect Carlos Babel was charged with
town planning breach of duty. Current municipal architect Francisco Salvador was
released without charges. The former and current town secretaries were also
questioned, and the following week every member of the previous local
administration was charged with land planning crimes, with the exception of
former senator María del Mar Simonelli of the PP.
Meanwhile the Guardia
Civil seized documentation from the Town Hall, as well as boxes of files and
laptop computers from offices and private residences in Zurgena, Albox,
Garrucha, Huércal-Overa and Almería city.
Speaking to press on his release,
Trabalón described the accusations against him as “science fiction”, claiming
the charges were part of a policy of “harassment” by the PSOE; Trabalón
represents the Andaluz Party (PA).
More...
Homes Razed by Spain Stun Foreigners as Slump Deepens
Bloomberg.com, 2nd May 2008, by Sharon
Smyth
April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Leo Levett-Smith
and his wife, Jean, thought they did everything right when they bought their
retirement home in Spain. They used a registered real estate agent, a Spanish
notary and obtained their mortgage through one of then country's largest savings
banks.
Then in January they received a demolition order saying the house had
been built without a permit.
More...
Nationwide
Sold a place in Spain?
Then you could be in for a £7,500 windfall
If you sold a house in
Spain between March 2004 and December 2006 you may have been the victim of an
inflated capital gains tax rate. More information is available in the
following article from The Mail on Sunday.
The Mail on Sunday
Digest of articles from Ciudadanos Europeos Weekly Report
25.04.08
Promoters:
Sales down 50-60% since September
The president of the association
of promoters and builders in Spain, Guillermo Chicote, has admitted that sales
of dwellings have fallen 50-60% since September last year.
Patrimonio Tax Abolished from next year
The
government have decided to abolish the unpopular "Impuesto de Patrimonio" (the
Spanish version of a Wealth Tax) from next year.
Most foreign residents,
depending on their level of income and value of their property, did not have to
pay "Patrimonio" but for the non-resident property owners there was no escape
from the form 214 (the combined declaration form for Income and Wealth).
It
is to be expected that some new Rules will come from the Hacienda regarding the
Income Tax declaration for non-residents and there will be a new form to replace
the 214.
Please check with your fiscal representative for more
information.
The AUAN expresses concern about the lack of progress in
resolving the illegal housing situation in the Almanzora Valley'
AUAN Press Release, The Almanzora Valley, 20th April
2008.
The association Abusos Urbanisticos
Almanzora NO (AUAN) is concerned about the lack of progress in resolving the
illegal housing situation in the Almanzora valley, now believed to number
thousands of houses.
In 2003 all of our town councils were given 4 years to
produce a PGOU (town plan) for their municipality under the new planning laws,
the Ley de Ordenacion Urbanistica de Andalucia (LOUA).
5 years have now
passed and to date not a single council has produced an approved urban plan.
According to official sources, the Advance PGOU for Albox is due for release
for a period of public consultation in May 2008.
The same official sources
have made it clear that this document will do nothing to resolve the situation
of illegal houses in this municipality. Arboleas, Cantoria and Partaloa produced
Advance Plans in Dec 2005, March 2006 and October 2006 respectively. We can find
no public record indicating that these documents have been approved by the Junta
de Andalucia. Indeed, we believe that Arboleas is currently working on an
updated Advance Plan.
According to public record Zurgena produced an Advance
PGOU in July 2006. Our official sources tell us that this document was summarily
rejected by the Junta de Andalucia. The recent legal action against various
parties associated with the planning process in this municipality is a very
worrying situation for those affected.
Regrettably, there is even less
progress to report on the sub regional plan for 'Alto Almanzora' (which covers
the Almanzora Valley). According to the Junta's own public records, work on this
document has barely commenced.
Luis Caparrós, the minister for Public Works
for the Junta de Andalucia, has repeatedly stated that the issue of 'irregular'
houses will be resolved within the PGOUs where possible and/or within the sub
regional plans.
We would welcome any evidence that a single action has been
taken by the Junta to 'regularise' our homes. Words are cheap and the only
action we have seen by the authorities in Almeria to date is the 'Vera'
demolition and the threat of others.
The AUAN will exercise its right under
the 2007 Ley de Suelo to engage in the planning process. We now have 300 members
but we need a louder voice.
We call on those affected to join our
organisation. If we raise our voices together, our homes, our futures and the
future prosperity of the Almanzora Valley will not sink in the mire of apathy
and indifference… most tragically on the part of those directly
affected.
Details of how to join us can also be found on the site, or by
calling 617118209. Regards - The AUAN committee.
'Promoters and Constructors must fund the solution for
the illegal houses'
El Mundo, 17 April 2008. Juan Carlos
Serrano, Luis Criado, Mariano Lopez, Javier Martinez de la Horra and Pablo E.
Requena.
In a major interview with El
Mundo, Jose Garcia Navarro, mayor of Albox concedes that there are 1,500 to
2,000 illegal houses in Albox and states that the promoters and constructors
must pay for the cost to legalise them. In a further startling revelation he
reveals only 11 of these houses had building permits.
Full Translation of Article from El
Mundo
Vera - Compensation for the
Priors?
AUAN, March
2, 2008
The home of Mr
and Mrs Prior was demolished on the 9th of January 2008 by the Junta de
Andalucia acting on a court order.
The Junta has claimed in the press that Vera
council is to blame for this situation and should compensate the
Priors. Vera council has claimed in the press that the Juntas' actions were
politically motivated and legal cases were outstanding when the
demolition took place. Neither party claims that the Priors were at
fault.
Meanwhile, the Priors are living in a caravan on
the site of their former home with no compensation to date. We in
the AUAN ask...Is this morally right?
NOTICES
AUAN Committee Members
Diary
A log
of the meetings and actions undertaken by the committee on behalf of the
membership.
AUAN Presentation on III Jornadas de
Urbanismo
On Friday 9th November over 300 people attended a
presentation hosted by the AUAN in the Martin Garcia Ramos school in Albox.
The presentation translated and summarised the III Jornadas de
Urbanismo, a seminar on Urban Planning organised by the Association of
Businesses and Professionals of the Almanzora Valley (AEPA).
If
you wish to view the AUAN presentation, please click on the picture and wait a
little while whilst it loads.
TOP LINKS
Your voting rights explained : www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/notes/snpc-02208.pdf
Contacting/Petitioning Parliament:
www.parliament.uk/about/contacting/petitioning.cfm
List of MPs in Alphabetical Order:
www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/alms.cfm
List of constituencies which leads to the member representing
them:
wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Kingdom_Parliament_constituencies
Area map of UK showing MEP areas and their
representatives:
http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm
If
would like some help with wording your letter see:
Letter Template
www.spanishpropertyscandalpetition.co.uk
This website has been set up by a lady in UK who is creating a petition to present to the UK , Spanish and European parliaments about the illegal builds in Spain .
It also contains a section to make complaints about lawyers.
Please make your voice heard, access the website and
sign the petition even if you are not a member of the
AUAN.
