Ecologists in Action and the Citizen Platform in Defense of the Territory of Alhaurín el Grande asks the Junta to reject a construction project that plans 1500 houses in Barranco Blanco, in the municipality of Alhaurín el Grande

Through individual representations presented to the Medio Ambiente of the Junta de Andalucía and the Public Works Committee of the Junta of Andalucía, the Provincial Federation of Ecologists in Action and the Citizen Platform in Defense of the Territory of Alhaurín el Grande has demanded that the administration reject this new city-planning project on a zone of high ecological value. The Public Works Committee has the possibility of rejecting the partial plan UR-11 (that it has been asked to approve by the town council of Alhaurín el Grande), and the Environment delegation should produce an unfavorable environmental impact report that avoids the irreversible damage that so aggressive a project will cause in this valley.

The urbanization project is going to have very serious and irreversible affect on form LIC ES6170022 of the Fuengirola River, and definitely will impact the source of the Pasadas and Alaminos rivers, with an assigned surface of 31.1 hectares, and with defined geographical coordinateses, 36º 32 ' 38 N and 004º ' W, and will damage the environment of the paleártica otter (Lutra lutra), a species named as protected in Annex II and IV of the Directive 92/43/CEE, a named species for the designation of this LIC, and “Vulnerable” to extinction in Spanish legislation and in Andalusian law. The main reason for this impact is that the houses and gardens will be built within a minimum range of about 30 meters of the margin of the creek. In addition it is essential to take account of the following facts:

1º- There is no guaranteed advisable minimum distance to cushion the possible environmental impacts to the habitat of this river, and to all the existing animal community in the area.

2º- That the construction and development will produce an inevitable diffuse contamination by organic matter, composed of chemicals, heavy metals, etc. to the fluvial system, as much to the river as to the water-bearing aquifer, and will affect the fish, aquatic and mammalian amphibians, aquatic reptiles - many of them protected by the law like the otter.

3º- It will produce a direct impact on the otter by continuous human presence once the construction next to the Alaminos River has been done, forcibly moving the population to less appropriate places ecologically or making them disappear completely from the river basin. This has happened or is happening in the river basin of the Ojén River and to the area near the town of Mijas.

4º- It is going away to break the complementary habitats between the fluvial vegetation and the dominant vegetation: The construction will cut trees, bushes, groves of cork oaks, pine groves, and fruit trees in existing properties, with the consequent decrease in biodiversity.

In addition to this impact on the LIC of the Fuengirola River, it is verified that in the Study of Environmental Impact presented/displayed by the promotional company of the urbanization (Ondabide SA), there is no reference to the presence of this LIC in the scope of the urbanization project (the LIC was approved definitively by the European Commission the 19 July  2006) as well as this, in the cataloguing of the different protected species from fauna and flora they do not make reference to the European Directives: 92/43/CEE and 79/409/CEE, corresponding to the Directive on Habitats and the Directive on Birds, respectively;  this is the reason why we consider that the Study of Environmental Impact for Barranco Blanco has not been properly updated, nor given sufficient importance as a natural space protected at the request of the European Union.

In addition, we think that this project of urbanization as well as the other nearby ones like those of the La Mota, in the same town, where it is intended to construct 2500 houses and a golf course, are going to affect directly an enormous number of species - many animals and protected plants (see catalog of fauna and protected flora of Sierra Alpujata and surroundings).  These are catalogued at different levels of protection and also protected at the level of the autonomous region of Andalucía, the Spanish State and by European Directives. These fauna and flora are inhabiting many diverse habitats in the affected area; thus we can enter among others: 21 species of endemic or protected plants, 2 species of insects, 5 species of fish, 6 species of amphibians, 9 species of reptiles, 21 species of mammals, and 39 species of birds.

Barranco Blanco is also a “zone bridge” that links several natural spaces: Sierra Alpujata, White Mountain range of Coín, Mountain range of Mijas, and the fluvial network of Rio de Las Pasados, Ojén River, and Fuengirola River.  This is the reason why importance is placed on this zone of Barranco Blanco when acting like an ecological 'highway' for different species of fauna and flora. The urbanization of this natural enclave will create the geographic isolation in greater or smaller amounts of these species, with all the problems that the resulting genetic impoverishment entails.

Also related to the degradation of this important natural zone - for the execution of this project they will create road infrastructure works in areas with extreme and strong risks of erosion, new construction for multiple services, overhead of lines of electricity where species of birds of prey that are protected will have a potential danger of electrocution or collision, systems of deposit and drainage collection that will soil and contaminate the nearby natural surroundings irremediably, systems of sewage and water drainage next to a LIC protected river with serious danger of contamination.