The constructions of the Babilonia beach in Guardamar del Segura in an image taken last Thursday. Joaquín de Haro
At Babilonia beach in Guardamar del Segura (Alicante, 16,158 inhabitants), the definition of the first line of coastline falls short.
The rise in sea level and the regression of the sand caused by the increasingly frequent maritime storms have resulted in the waves hitting the facades of part of the hundred houses that make up the Babylonian Colony, created in 1934 by the Government of the Republic.
The Provincial Coastal Service, supported by a report from the Center for Public Works Experimentation Studies (Cedex), urged its demolition in 2018, a decision that initiated a series of lawsuits filed by residents that, this week, reached the decision of the Supreme Court.
In a pre-sentence note,
The magistrates of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber advanced that they deny the extension of the concession of maritime-land public domain to the homes of Guardamarencas.
Manuel López, secretary of the AVV Guardamar Playa, warns that the concessionaires will appeal the Supreme Court ruling.
The Costas resolution, also encouraged by the National Court, is supported by "unfavorable environmental reports," the Supreme Court said in its statement.
The coastline of this tourist town in the south of Alicante, next to the mouth of the Segura River, has preserved a singular system of dunes and pine forests.
According to the Cedex report, the houses of Babylon "occupy an important part of the dry beach and their proximity to the shore line determines the damage they suffer in storms", therefore, he concludes, "it would be appropriate to allow the evolution from the beach until it reaches equilibrium.
That is, it advises the demolition of all buildings.
In 2016, Costas requested the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings, since the properties,
built “on the beach itself and without foundations” they present “structures that may be badly damaged”.
Finally, a 2017 municipal report adds that "the storms undermined the ground under the road, causing the collapse of the sidewalk and part of the road" that separated the houses from the sea.
One of the houses in Colonia Babilonia. Joaquín de Haro
López, however, maintains that "there is not a single environmental report against the houses."
He affirms that the Cedex report "agrees" with the neighbors by 99%, "except that, in the end, it recommended demolition due to environmental and landscape impact and for posing a danger to people", which is contradicted, in his opinion, due to the fact that some of the neighbors have their first residence in Babylon.
He also points out that "all the houses have passed a report on the state of their construction" and that, in his opinion, what Costas is trying to do is "hide his patrimonial responsibility for the regression of the beaches, which is due to the lack of contribution of river sediments.
Those affected will continue their fight in the courts.
"We are impatient to know the sentence, since the decision does not respond to reality," he says.
The concession "was promoted by the Republic in 1934, to beautify the coastline, fix the sand, protect the pine forest and provide work," recalls López, through a "public, open and free" contest.
The neighborhood, whose plans were signed by engineer Francisco Mira, is made up of "ground-floor houses, with a standard width of 6 meters and a depth of about 15 meters."
The dealers pay "an annual fee to Costas that ranges between 800 and 3,000 euros," López details.
“It is a small microcosm, there is everything from the elderly to young couples or families with children, with different purchasing power”.
The permanence of the houses, which after the Costas resolution is conjugated in the imperfect future, has forced some of the residents to leave.
The Guardamar town hall remains attentive to court rulings and trusts that they will ratify the demolition, says the mayor, José Luis Sáez (PSOE): "We need optimal conditions on our coast, since Guardamar lives on tourism and the complex is affected because of the chaos in that area.”
The council has already demolished "the house that was located furthest from the beach" and recovered 120 meters of sand, "in which two wooden walkways have been set up for the promenade."
If Babylon falls, "600 more meters of coastline" will become public domain, which will be added to the 11 kilometers of coastline "without obstacles, without coves or rocks, except at the mouth of the Segura" and where "it will not be possible to build a urbanized promenade, only footbridges integrated into the environment”, says Sáez.
Isaack hits the Valencian coast again
The residents of Babilonia "are not afraid for our houses," says López, "since, luckily, a court allowed us to make a protection, a handmade breakwater" that defends them against the waves, he asserts, "except in cases like that of the Gloria storm or similar”.
In January 2020, that storm produced considerable damage on the Valencian coast, which had also just suffered the effects of La Dana in December 2019, with special incidence in Orihuela and Guardamar.
As the director of the Climatology Laboratory of the University of Alicante, Jorge Olcina, pointed out in this newspaper, climate change is causing storms in Levante to increase in frequency, a situation that requires "reviewing the Coastal Law and the concessions planning for homes on the first line”, he argued.
Precisely,
Raise EMV.
The latest example occurred this week with the Isaack storm, which between Tuesday and Wednesday left "waves of more than four meters and heavy seas, according to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), and forced the activation of orange warnings for maritime storm.
There have been new floods and damage to beaches, some houses and promenades at various points along the coast.
One of the main affected was the Port of Sagunto (Valencia), in which two sections of jetty fell, in disuse for years, which were added to another three missing after the DANA and Gloria.
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