Malaga urban planning department overwhelmed by backlog of 7,000 violation cases

Malaga's municipal urban planning department has been the subject of numerous violation cases in recent years.

The latest data the Con Málaga municipal group has compiled reveals that there are currently 12,823 open cases in this department, corresponding to 7,086 files in process. This does not include cases that have been archived, expired, time-barred, pending filing, awaiting payment of fines or for which the fine has been paid.

This represents a 20 per cent increase compared to the number of urban planning violation proceedings opened four years ago, in 2022, which totalled 10,676. However, the most striking aspect is that some of the 7,000 cases were initiated more than 40 years ago and are still open. This is the status of three cases dating back to 1984, four to 1985 and eight to 1986, 15 in total.

Of the cases from 1992, 45 remain open; from 1997, 49 are still unresolved; from 1998, 62; and since 2002, the number of unresolved cases has exceeded by 100 per year. Furthermore, since 2008, the number of unresolved cases has surpassed 200 per year, exceeding 300 annually since 2017. Of the cases from more than 20 years ago, 892 are still pending.

The number of open proceedings has accumulated especially in the last four years: 459 in 2022, 648 in 2023, 729 in 2024 and 391 in 2025. These types of files expire one year after their opening if they have not been fully resolved, so urban planning officials have to reopen them again to resume them.

Similarly, it is particularly alarming that, in the list of pending cases the local ruling team provided to Con Málaga, a total of 1,458 are still awaiting an inspector's visit. This includes two cases from 1990 and eleven proceedings from 1991. Furthermore, there are approximately ten infraction cases opened in 2010 that have yet to be inspected.

According to deputy spokesperson for Con Málaga Toni Morillas, these figures indicate a "very serious" violation, for which they are demanding a commission of inquiry to "determine responsibilities and request an increase in human and material resources in the urban planning enforcement service".

According to the ruling team, this department currently has only four building inspectors (three assistants and one mid-level inspector) - a clearly insufficient number given the volume of cases. It also has three administrative staff, two management technicians, one building engineer, one industrial engineer and one lawyer. They are managed by a section chief with a law degree and a building surveyor who is the head of the department.

Toni Morillas has denounced that "of the 12,823 urban planning violation proceedings opened, 8,700, that is, 70 per cent, haven't even progressed beyond the preliminary stages". "This shows that the urban planning enforcement system in the city of Malaga is completely overwhelmed and not working," she stated.

According to Morillas, the urban planning department serves "the economic interests of a few" and sweeps under the rug "seven out of ten urban planning violations after the preliminary stage".

The Villas del Arenal case from 2013 highlights the lack of resources of the city council to carry out an adequate management of the hundreds of urban planning violation files each year.

As a result of that situation, the municipal government approved a planning inspection plan in March 2018 to try to streamline the service and alleviate the backlog of open cases. A points system was established to prioritise cases that, due to their characteristics (for example, in the case of protected buildings), require more urgent inspection. However, that measure has not succeeded in reducing the backlog.