Work starts clearing Camposol land plots... and it is not Mazarron Council
As heavy machinery starts clearing building plots, social media go into overdrive
On Thursday, April 18 two ground-moving machines started work on undeveloped polígono C11 to the north of Camposol, or what is commonly described as the front of the currently closed Sensol Hotel. Within hours, the machines moved on to the adjacent poligono C9 and then onto poligono C13 to the south or rear of the Hotel. The following day the same machines arrived and started work on polígono Ru4 on Sector A.
Some of these plots have been utilised by local residents as sports and social areas with garden landscapes, petanca courts and barbeques installed, although permission was not sought as the land owner’s identification was not known. When approached, the operators of the machinery said they would delay work on the residents’ installations until after the weekend, giving the local volunteers time to remove any installations or furniture.
Many people took to social media to voice their opinions and some pointed to Mazarrón Council as the body responsible for carrying out the clearance work, maybe because of the current process being undertaken by the council to take over responsibility for the public roads and areas in the Camposol urbanisation.
The holes in that opinion are that the polígonos where work is being carried out are private property and not under the control of Mazarrón Council. In addition, the work is being carried out by a civil engineering company from Torrevieja whereas Mazarrón Council would endeavour to use local companies.
The Camposol Business Association spoke to Mazarrón Councillor for Camposol, Carmen Navarro, who confirmed that “Mazarrón Council would not work on private property”. The Business Association also contacted the Town planning department of Mazarrón Council and Councillor for Town planning, where Gaspar Miras responded saying that his department can “confirm that the Town Council is not carrying out any work in those polígonos/plots, they are private property”. He went on, “I do not know what the intentions of the works are, but as far as the urban planning department is concerned, currently no planning permit applications have been received” adding that “a building inspector will check the works in the next few days”.
Of course, this does not mean the owner of the plots concerned will not apply for planning permits in the short term or that the clearing and levelling work is being carried out with the view to putting the land up for sale, particularly as previously mentioned, Mazarrón Council are in the process of taking control of the Camposol urbanisation’s management and the lifting of the suspension on new buildings permits is expected to follow. This would turn what before were plots of low-value, redundant land into higher-value, potentially buildable plots.
This would benefit Mazarrón Council and Camposol, as funds would be collected from prospective developers in the form of permit, licencing and urban fees including bonds which would in turn be invested in the completion of the urbanisation as per the Council’s “Change of management” plan.
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