málaga
Óscar Román stands down to avoid having to play the role of "village hangman"; no one is keen to take his place
24.01.10 - 13:12 -
Óscar Román, at Tuesday’s meeting. / Carlos Moret
The rebellion of the small municipalities in the province of Malaga against the Junta de Andalucía’s LOUA (land law) began on Tuesday with the resignation of the mayor of Carratraca, Óscar Román. He made it quite clear that giving up his position was preferable to having to take action against a significant number of local people in a village with no more than 900 inhabitants.
“When I came here it was to help the local people, not to become the village hangman”, he said amidst applause on Tuesday in his resignation speech in a crowded council chamber. He admitted that he was “incapable of solving those problems” in reference to the nearly a hundred cases of illegal construction in which he would be obliged by the LOUA to take action.
The prospect of opening investigations that could lead to fines and possible demolition orders for more than a tenth of the population does not appeal to anybody. On Tuesday morning one of the last things Román did as mayor was to sign the resignation of his deputies and councillors within his local government team which means that no one automatically took over as acting mayor.
As yet none of the village’s seven councillors (three IU, two PP and two PSOE) has expressed an interest in standing for election as the new mayor at the special council meeting planned for next Wednesday. The provincial leaders of Román’s party, Izquierda Unida, however have already set about trying to persuade their three councillors in Carratraca that one of them has to be mayor as they have “see their responsibilities through to the end”, as the most voted party.
Carratraca is by no means the only municipality whose mayor has discrepancies with the Andlausian land law (LOUA). Last autumn when the mayor of Sayalonga, José Luis Navas, was given a prison sentence and a nine year ban on holding public office for a planning offence, mayors of all political colours announced the possiblity of their standing down. They complained of the lack of support from the regional authority and felt threatened by the prospect of a criminal court case.
The Carratraca case has exposed the reality of the situation: council leaders, obliged to comply with the LOUA, are under pressure from local people who cannot understand the limitations of the regulations.
“We all have problems explaining to someone who owns a plot of agricultural land near the village why they can’t build themselves a house”, said the mayor of Villanueva de Tapia and IU spokesperson in the provincial government, Encarnación Páez, who called for the “human factor” to be applied more in these cases.
“The case of Carratraca illustrates the failure of the LOUA as the law came too late, criminalising inland areas. Meanwhile illegal properties in Marbella are being legalised. The Junta looked the other way when the blatant irregularities were being committed on the Costa”.
The president of the provincial government, Salvador Pendón has said “I don’t understand how a public official can resign in order not to have to apply the law”.
Meanwhile most official business has ground to a halt in Carratraca where until Wednesday no one is running the Town Hall.
