Spanish want to raze coastal homes

2:21pm Monday 12th November 2007

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Plans to demolish holiday homes in Spain sparked a row - and uncertainly for Britons who own homes there.

The Spanish government wants to pull down hundreds of illegally built homes, chalets and hotels, built too close to the coast and often too high, along the coastline as part of a five billion euro initiative to stop environmental damage.

The move has put it at loggerheads with the provinces concerned, fearing for tourism and investment, and people who bought the homes.

Construction is banned within 100 metres of the coastline, but developers ignored the rules.

The areas affected include the entire Mediterranean coast from Barcelona to Marbella, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands.

The consent of Spain's powerful regional governments is essential for the plan to proceed.

Forty-four per cent of the Spanish population lives along the coastline and 80 per cent of the nearly 60 million tourists who visit Spain every year stay on the coast.