24.02.09 - 09:53 -
EVENT. Audi brought vehicles to land next to La Cañada.
“A monument to political irresponsibility”
Last year it was announced that Audi had chosen Marbella for the world launch of the new Q5 model. The event was reported to bring 10,000 delegates from 50 different countries to the town between October and December. Now the Public Prosecution Department has opened an enquiry into suspected illegalities surrounding the work that took place to prepare for the event on land already affected by planning problems next to La Cañada.
The investigation was sparked by a report made by the local PSOE Socialist group on October 14th, just after the event started. Councillor Javier de Luis denounced that the work that had been carried out had gone further than the provisional permission granted by the Town Hall and involved land already tied up in planning enquiries. The Socialists even suggested that rather than a “world launch” of a new model the event was a training course for sales people.
The PSOE’s report accuses the Town Hall of granting new planning permission for land on which a court had already ordered previous work to be halted and for the area’s original state to be restored.
Rental contract
“However the most serious part in our point of view is that the planning permission file includes the photocopy of a rental contract for warehouses belonging to Sr. Olivo, owner of General de Galerías Comerciales, which the Town Hall had previously ordered to be demolished, showing the possibility of making generous profits from an illegal construction”, points out De Luis.
The PSOE suggested that the work carried out to prepare the land for the Audi event, did not just involve the levelling of land, but also included work inside the four warehouses on the site.
“The licence awarded by the Town Hall did not include alterations to these buildings”, continues the report. The PSOE admit that they have nothing against the Audi event in itself “but that the provisional work carried out exceeded the permission granted”.
