'We're trapped in a ghost town': The 100,000 British expats whose Spanish homes could be bulldozed any day
Wednesday, November 27, 2013 @ 11:16 AM
Thousands told their homes were built illegally after they bought them
'Barmy' planning rules and topsy-turvy laws leave residents in limbo.
Concrete jungles left behind as construction stops mid-development
The 200 people sitting in the cafe in the square of the Spanish town of Albox, Andalucia, make for unlikely protesters.
All are British expats who are smartly dressed and polite. They don’t shout; they even put their placards to one side to hold a Christmas raffle for a hamper of Spanish food. If it weren’t for the bright sunshine and orange trees lining the Plaza Major, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in the Home Counties.
These protesters have come from miles around to discuss the next stage in their fight against the Spanish authorities which want to demolish their villas.
The majority have spent their life-savings on properties which, unbeknown to them at the time of purchase, were built illegally.
The previous month, bulldozers razed the home of John and Jan Brooks, a British couple who lived in the nearby village of Cantoria. Now, every person at the meeting fears their dream home will suffer the same fate.
One woman in her 60s sums up the mood. "What the authorities are doing to us is monstrous,’ she says. ‘It’s like living in a dictatorship. We will not be walked over or allow our concerns to be swept under the carpet. We are determined to fight this situation until there is no breath left in our bodies".
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