Catral

Catral is a town and municipality located in the "comarca" of Vega Baja del Segura, in the province of Alicante, Spain. Catral has an area of 20 km² and, according to the 2005 census, a total population of 6,642 inhabitants.

Since July 2005 the Mayor of Catral, Don José M. Rodríguez Leal from the PSOE party, and the rest of the town council, are being investigated by the Orihuela Court of Law, regarding their lack of action to stop the illegal building in the country side. This illegal building situation was denounced by the Seprona unit from the Guardia Civil. According to the Seprona, there are more than 1200 illegal house built or in construction in the country side of Catral.

This investigation comes, just a few weeks after the Mayor, José M. Rodríguez Leal, proposed a new building programme called PGOU, that is facing total opposition from the majority of the citizens of Catral. —It appears that many of the British residents living in these illegal houses are unaware that all could be subject to demolition orders for being built on plots of considerably less than the legal minimum of 10,000m2, as well as within the protected park of El Hondo where building is not allowed on any size plot. The plan to urbanise is the only way to legalise these properties, and has been put forward as an alternative to demolition. It is virtually certain that the houses within the nature reserve, used by migrating birds as well as a resident population of water birds, will be demolished.

On October 3, 2006, the regional government of Valencia suspended the municipality's urban planning authority. This is the second case in Spain after Marbella's. An investigation is currently under way, and may end with the dismissal of the current municipal authority of Catral.

Nanny and Grandad Live here. I Love To visit by Liam :)

External links

* [http://club.telepolis.com/catral/ Villa de Catral] , "Town of Catral", in Spanish.

There is a Spanish Lawyer based near the area who is a specialist in this field. He speaks very good English and is keen to ensure that house owners get the fairest deal from the problem. His website can be found at [http://www.ricorabogados.com www.ricorabogados.com]