Nerja Council is proposing to halt work on the new PGOU (General Plan) for the municipality. The processing of the new plan, the basis for all development in the town, began in 2004. The Council has given three main reasons for this decision.
Firstly, the social and economic situation today bears no resemblance to the scenario faced back in 2004.
The second reason involves the golf course saga. The Junta de Andalucia has asked the Nerja Council to continue processing the PGOU but this would mean that the Council would then have to reclassify the golf course land as non-developable. The Council will not do this because the lands were sold as being for development and with the permission of the Junta de Andalucia.
To reclassify the land now would leave the Council in a difficult situation and cast them as the villains in the eyes of citizens and those who purchased the land for the golf course, presumably with possible legal ramifications such as maybe having to give back the €15 million that Medgroup paid for the land.
Thirdly, the adaptation of the current, old PGOU to the LOUA means that the Council can continue with its development plans without a new PGOU by introducing specific modifications to elements of the plan where necessary.
In addition, the Council believes that the development of a new PGOU is no longer of prime importance as the current plan is perfectly suited to the urban development of the municipality and shelving the new plan will save a considerable amount of money.