Six years ago there was delight among the general public and holidaymakers who know the area when the section of the Cabo Roig Walkway between Aguamarina and La Caleta beach was opened up. Only the residents of Bellavista urbanisation objected against the move as the route passed in front of their properties.
The Orihuela Council carried out the demolition of the private wall that the residents of the urbanisation had erected at both ends – up until which time the pathway was private, serving only the 52 homeowners.
In May 2017 the Provincial Coastal Service indicated that the land in Aguamarina is affected by a right of way and, therefore, the residents could not close it and had to leave the passage free.
Well it seems now that the many hundreds of people who pass along the path in front of the Bellavista urbanisation on a daily basis could once again be forced to make the two-kilometre detour to cross that section of just 60 metres next to the sea, as was the case prior to 2015.
In the intervening period the Bellavista Residents have continued to fight their case and now, after three judicial decisions, the last one from the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV), it seems that the judges agree with the residents and require that the private wall must be erected once again because its demolition by the Council was illegal.
In their judgement they highlighted the mismanagement of the Consistory in the matter “since the local government has had more than enough time to have started the expropriation file.”
Faced with this last judgement, the Council has filed a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court, even though the City Council’s own lawyer recognises that the possibilities of approval are “certainly remote.”
For this reason, it urges the Ayuntamiento to initiate “immediately” the acquisition of the land, through expropriation.
The affected owners commissioned the expropriation values in 2019 from an office of engineers and urban planners, which they estimated at 700,000 euros, a disproportionate sum for the City Council, which proposed, to avoid it, by building a continuation of the walkway along the seafront, but under the path, which they own. However this is a project that Costas rejects.
The Bellavista residents complain that their homes have been devalued by 20% as they no longer enjoy the views of the sea without members of the public passing regularly in front of the gardens of their houses. As such the Consistory must reconsider the expropriation value, sit down with the residents and negotiate a fair price.
