The delegation of the Medio Ambiente in Málaga has considered the environmental effects the project of residential urbanization in the zone of Barranco Blanco to be non-viable, in Alhaurín el Grande, which anticipates the construction of 1,505 houses and would affect 1.5 million square meters.

The present town plan of Alhaurín el Grande includes this area and was approved definitively in 1994, before the Law of Environmental Protection of Andalusia took effect, and therefore the Evaluation of Environmental Impact was not applied at that time, informed the Junta in an official notice.

Now, when developing a partial plan that anticipates the land transformation by a number superior to one million square meters, and when being in a zone declared by the European Union as a Place of Interés Comunitario (LIC) of the Network Natura 2000, there must be a corresponding Evaluation of Environmental Impact.

The Declaration of Environmental Impact has been produced (DIA) by the Department of Environmental Protection of the Medio Ambiente of the Junta, ratified by the Main directorate of this Council, and signed by its delegate, Ignacio Trillo.

This urbanization, which is five kilometers from the town, anticipates, in addition to the mentioned houses, zones of commercial use and equipment that would support a new population of 6,020 inhabitants, which would mean an increase of 28 percent of the existing population in that municipality.

In addition, it would occupy the surroundings of the Alaminos river, declared like Place of Interés Comunitario (LIC) by the European Union, which makes the environmental effects the project nonviable, according to the Junta.

It would affect species of flora and fauna

The dimensions of the residential area would affect the species of flora and fauna like the paleártica otter, that is one of the reasons that it was declared a LIC in this zone, which also functions as an ecological pathway between the mountain ranges of Mijas, Alpujata, Blanca, Bermeja and of Coín, providing an important genetic and biological diversity.

Also there is a considerable number of mammals (wild gineta cat, weasel or garduña), rich birds (eagles culebrera and gavilán, sparrowhawk or heron), amphibians and species of invertebrates.

The Junta also considers the project does not have sufficient water resources and is therefore non-viable, since the three propose bore holes in the sector would negatively affect the volume of the Alaminos river that in periods of rain shortage depends on the acquifers of the zone.

The project anticipates a water demand of more than 1.5 million liters per day that would also affect not only the ecological volume of the river but to the flora and fauna associated with it, according to Medio Ambiente.

Also, the DIA specifies that the project has not respected the zone of hydraulic public ownership and the zone of services required to be five meters from existing streams in the zone, and the project has land parcels for the construction on the water courses in the zone.