From a green pine forest to 52 luxury villas: indignation over urban pressure in Begur

GironaIn recent years, the coast of Begur (Baix Empordà) has suffered increasingly intense urban pressure, with a threatening increase of building works on the seafront. The latest case is the project Jardins de Sa Riera Living, which is about to complete the construction of 52 luxury homes next to the beach, in a new development which required the deforestation of the virgin forest of pines and oaks closest to the coast. The organisation Salvem la Costa de Begur, which is part of the environmentalist federation SOS Costa Brava, has positioned itself radically against it.

"The visual impact of the real estate complex is horrendous," says Inés Ripoll, a resident of Sa Riera and member of the Begur environmentalist platform. She explains she has lived through the construction process "with impotence and frustration", sending daily emails and messages to the administrations to stop what she considers an "operation of urbanistic terrorism". He has never received any responses. Giving a voice to the indignation of Salvem la Costa de Begur, she adds: "We wonder how the Town Council was able to give the building permit and approve this concrete fortress on the seashore". The association not only regrets the development's visual impact, but also warns of environmental consequences. "At a critical time due to climate change and loss of biodiversity, it is unsustainable to cut down a green lung like a pine forest and replace it with a concrete block, without any shade and full of air conditioning," says Núria Raventós, a biologist who is part of the association.

Likewise, Salvem la Costa de Begur claims the environmental cost of this infrastructure is not compensated by any direct benefit for the town. It is a foreign project managed by Swiss investment funds Varia Europa Properties and Stoneweg – the same ones that wanted to manage the construction of the new Hermitage Museum in Barcelona – associated with local construction company Sorigué, which has not hired any local workers. And, moreover, the homes are aimed solely at satisfying the purchase and rental demands of high-end tourists. "It will be a ghost development of second homes that will be empty during winter and will oversaturate the summer season even more," Núria Raventós says.

Legal battle

To stop the construction process, Salvem la Costa de Begur filed a complaint against the Town Council, responsible for granting the building permit in 2018. In July 2019, however, the Town Council dismissed the complaint and the environmental association responded by filing an appeal to the administrative court of Girona, which is still awaiting sentencing. Eduard de Ribot, lawyer of SOS Costa Brava, alleges that the urban plan of the Sa Riera complex is illegal, mainly because "it violates the prohibition to build on a slope steeper than 20%, does not provide any green paths on the development and ignores the obligation of integrating with the surrounding environment". And, for the time being, until the final ruling is delivered, the environmental association celebrates a small victory: precautionary measures force the Land Registry to inform potential buyers that Jardins Living buildings are under court investigation, with the risk of demolition this entails.

On the other hand, Maite Selva, mayor of Begur (JxCat), replies that the tender for the works responds to the 2003 regulations of the municipal urban development plan (POUM), which defined the area of Sa Riera as land for development. "With this legislation, the municipal government has the obligation to grant the license to the owner who intends to buy the land, so, no matter how ugly and unpleasant the development may be to us, we are forced to grant it," the mayoress counters. "Even if we could do so, if we were to revoke the permits, we would have to face millions of dollars in compensation," she adds. These arguments are countered by the SOS Costa Brava lawyer, who affirms that "with political will, the POUM can be modified" and points out that when the lawsuits were filed, "before the works started, the penalties for non-compliance with the contract were derisory".