An end to land grabbing is in sight

The Valencian city-planning legislation will be reformed for the second time following pressure from the European Court of Justice.

First there was the Ley Reguladora de la Actividad Urbanística (LRAU) in 2003, which was replaced by the Ley Urbanística Valenciana (LUV) in 2006.

The LRAU was nicknamed the land grab law because it allowed Town Councils to set up Programas de Actuación Integrada (PAI) which forced house owners to give up their land to constructors who were building low cost housing. To make matters worse they were also forced to pay for the infrastructure of these developments.

The LUV was supposed to close the loopholes and clear up the irregularities in the LRAU but failed to do so. The main complaints were the lack of transparency and competition in awarding contracts under the PAIs.

The Valencian Government  has accused the socialist Members of the European Parliament of  orchestrating denunciations against them with the unique objective of wearing away at the Consell.  They say that the long process has aggravated the image of  Valencians. They claim that taking them before the Court of Justice was the result of a conspiracy orchestrated by the English, the Socialists, the Green parties and even  Members of the European Parliament from other countries of the EU.

Let us hope that the latest changes will clear this mess up and prevent more house owners suffering. Currently there are projects totaling 130 million square metres which are pending. Sadly it will be too late for those who have already lost their land to the developers.