The Asociación de Amigos de los Humedales del Sur de Alicante (AHSA) is concerned about the environmental impact of a shopping centre in Guardamar del Segura.
The Valencian Ministry of Ecological Transition has definitively approved the modification of the Catalogue of Wetlands of the Valencian Community, the first change that has been made since its entry into force in 2002, some 20 years ago, which includes 7 new wetlands.
However, one plot has been removed from the catalogue, now classified as suitable for urban use, on which a shopping centre was built in 2004 on the banks of the old Segura riverbed, at the entrance of Guardamar del Segura, located next to emblematic elements of this town, the Iron Bridge, the San Antonio Mill and the infrastructures of the Riegos de Levante water intake for its elevation to the Hondo.
AHSA, which denounced the events in 2004 before the Guardia Civil’s environmental branch, SEPRONA, affirms that the decision to eliminate the protection of some land that was included in a catalogue of wetland areas to legalise an illegal construction, is completely unacceptable, it creates a worrying precedent and sends a message of permissiveness in the face of illegal construction in protected areas.
AHSA’s denunciation of the construction of this shopping centre, on undeveloped land of special protection, motivated the opening of preliminary proceedings by a court in Torrevieja, although these were surprisingly archived. The complaint did not prevent the completion of the works, but also the commercial premises being sold despite the fact that no commercial activity could be authorised as it was an illegal building.
AHSA later presented allegations in the same terms in the public information period of the proposed modifications to the Valencian wetland catalogue.
AHSA believes that the Generalitat Valenciana has legalised a construction in a protected area on the banks of the Segura River, in a flood zone and in the surroundings of important heritage elements that, according to environmentalists, should never have been allowed by this administration or by the Guardamar Council.
