On Wednesday the 2nd May, the CRA have their second meeting with Masa. Despite promises that they would submit an agenda for the reparation of D7 last Monday, they have not been in touch since, except to arrange this next meeting. We hope this will give us a tangible outcome.

The CRA committee meet with Francisco Blaya Blaya, leader of the Partido Popular in Mazarron at 10am tomorrow morning, 30th April.

On Wednesday 25th April, some 200 people turned up at Kennelly's to hear what Garrigues had to say. In essence, it would appear that it would be possible for a council with the political will to do so, can in fact change the designation. This will be pursued by the CRA along with all the other issues which we are trying to bring to the attention of the Town Hall and Masa. Despite the calls from one group, for the report to be on general release, the CRA will not be doing so until after the election on May 27th. As stated in our last press release, (below) we are not politically motivated, nor are we prepared to allow a report which you have paid for to be used as a political football. In this case, confidentiality and discretion will ensure that whoever wins the election must do so because they have put forward an agenda which is persuasive to the majority, and not by the use of information which they have not paid for, or have not seen fit to address before, either in their manifesto, or to highlight the shortfalls of the opposition!

Press Release
Camposol Residents Association.
The report from our lawyers, Garrigues, which has been commissioned by the CRA, is not going to be released until after the 27th May.
Several groups have tried to request it from Garrigues directly, but they have made it abundantly clear that the report is the property of the CRA, and it is their decision alone how, when and to whom the report is released.
Roy Pugh, Chairman of the CRA has said:
“This report will form the basis of the efforts of the CRA to obtain the necessary legal and political co-operation of the Local Authority, Masa and other agencies involved in the satisfactory completion of Urbanisation Camposol.”
“We want to make it very clear to everyone that we will not be releasing the report to any outside agency, including the political parties until after the local elections on 27th May”.
“We are confident that whichever party succeeds in this election will be willing to speak with us and that we will secure a resolution to the problems on Camposol. The CRA has no political allegiances, and is therefore unwilling to release a document of this stature, with the likelihood that it may be used inappropriately for political expedience.”
“This is a significant historical event in the history of Camposol; and it is vital that we ensure that our friends and neighbours on Camposol are represented by a competent and responsible residents association, which reflects the faith they have shown in us by supporting our actions.”
“Equally, that whatever the future of Camposol, the decisions which are made in the fullness of time are made transparently and without prejudice.”
April 23rd 2007.

Rathnait Mullen Press officer CRA
Email rathnait4cra@hotmail.com

Camposol Residents Association (C.R.A.)Meeting with MasaThursday 19th April 2007
Those Present:
Roy Pugh Chairman, C.R.A.Mary Cooper Secretary/Treasurer C.R.A.Brian Tokely Member C.R.AJoaquin Ataz Ruiz Garrigues C.R.A. LawyersMaria Sheeran Garrigues C.R.A. LawyersJosé ??? Garrigues C.R.A. LawyersDaniel Bascuñana GrupoMasa
1) Opening Statement The meeting opened at 4pm. Joaquin Ataz Ruiz, Garrigues, introduced those present and briefly explained to Daniel Bascuñana, GrupoMasa, the purpose of the meeting. Maria Sheeran, Garrigues, acted as interpreter throughout the meeting.Roy Pugh opened the meeting with the following statement. The C.R.A did not wish to be confrontational towards Masa, however, he stressed that adverse publicity at this stage would not do anyone any good, therefore he hoped that we could establish common ground between us and reach satisfactory conclusions to the problems we are experiencing on Camposol. Roy also stated that the C.R.A. were not about suggesting solutions, that we would only present the problems, it would then be up to Masa and Mazarron Town Council to come up with solutions that are acceptable to all parties concerned.
2) Daniel Bascuñana GrupoMasaDaniel explained that Masa have been developing houses for the past 30 years in this time they had built some 30,000 houses in total and have never experienced problems with their customers and that he hoped they wouldn’t have any now.He said that once customers have signed their Escrituras they automatically become part of the Entity and that Masa were entitled to charge them for services provided, Joaquin strongly disagreed with this and stated that legally this could only happen when a house has been issued with a Certificate of Habitation. Further discussion is needed on this subject.
Roy stated that the C.R.A. had been forced down the route of employing Lawyers to find out the truth about what is happening on Camposol, because, Mazarrón Town Council put the blame on Masa and Masa in turn blame the Town Hall for the problems we are experiencing.
Daniel said that earlier in the year relations had broken down between Masa and the Town Hall however they are now trying to resolve their differences and are holding weekly meetings, they have had 4 to date and are making progress.
3) Sector A The Plan is to finish Sector A as soon as possible and hand over to Mazarron Town Council. The question was asked about what constitutes ‘finished’ ready for hand over? Daniel intimated that finished means finished in agreement with the Town Council’s requirements.Roy expressed concern that the residents are not kept informed of progress and not consulted either. Daniel said he had not been made aware of the existence of the C.R.A. and that Masa had not had contact with any other organisation on Camposol for some considerable time, he stated that the Town Council in theory were responsible for keeping the residents updated and was not aware that this was not happening.
4) Other BusinessRoy explained that the C.R.A had held elections in July of last year and the present committee, nine in total, had been voted in by residents registered with us at that time, the total of these currently stands near 2000 residents and rising quite considerably of late, he also explained that we had not yet been successful in establishing a relationship with the Town Hall for various reasons but expected that this would change in the very near future.
Daniel said that the numbers we represented were immaterial to him and that Masa wanted to get on well with all of their customers in view of this he wanted to hold regular meetings with us, he apologised for not turning up for the last meeting, this was due to illness, and asked if in future we could hold meetings every fifteen days, the C.R.A. would supply the agenda five days in advance of each meeting to allow Masa to prepare. We agreed that we would supply about five agenda items for each meeting
Daniel promised that Masa would make every effort to help us and asked if we could try to resolve problems without including the Masa Lawyers, Roy agreed that we would try to do this but at the same time made it clear that we would not hesitate to take legal action if we felt the need to do so. Having agreed this Daniel asked if there were any immediate problems we could address today. Roy asked that Masa address two of the most pressing problems we currently have firstly, the major subsidence problems on Sector D7 that have escalated during the recent heavy rainfalls and secondly, the problems with street lighting.Daniel explained that the lighting issues would in some cases be difficult to resolve as they are still waiting for licenses to be issued for the installation of transformers. However he agreed to look into these two issues as a matter of urgency.
The meeting closed at 6pm, the next meeting will be scheduled for Thursday 3rd May.

The CRA have pro formers for collection, devised by Garrigues, in spanish and english, requesting your certificate of habitation.
You can collect them any day at Kennelly's this week, except Thursday from the CRA desk between 4 and 5pm. Next week, we will be back to Tuesdays and Fridays.
All you have to do is fill in the details, sign and copy it. Take both copies to the Town Hall, and ask them to stamp a copy which you keep.

On the advice of the lawyers we have requested a polling booth on Camposol for the local elections on May 27th. Thank you to the eighty or more people who took the trouble to fill in the individual letters which Garrigues devised to support the CRA request.

Transcript of CRA Public Meeting held on Saturday 31st March

I am going to speak in Spanish and it will be translated in English. I will do a very brief introduction, if you have any questions I can deal with these later it is better to do it at the end, so lets start.

Some months ago we were asked by the CRA to issue a report on the situation on Camposol.

We did it by going, to the council to look for information, the council was willing to agree to give us and provide us with the information and we were able to go through a lot of files which dealt with information regarding Camposol, we have taken copies of those documents and gave those copies to the CRA. Unfortunately all of the documentation is written in Spanish however, we are fully aware of the situation Camposol is in at the moment.

I will try to explain the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible. In order to deal with a situation such as this one, first of all we agree the infra-structure has to be built, after that the developer can build the houses and can then sell them. It is possible for this to take place at the same time, but some guarantees are needed, the infra- structure can be built at the same time the houses are built however no one can inhabit those houses until the infra-structure are fully finished. It is the responsibility of the property developer and the Town Council to make sure and to guarantee that, if that had happened this case would not have occurred.

Unfortunately the situation you find yourselves in today is pretty common in Spain, which is no excuse but I do not wish to alarm you either, there are conclusions but we require your help and the Town Council and the property developer have to assume their responsibilities on this issue.

The plan which were approved in order to build Camposol that which were approved by the Town Council were not fully done in a legal way. The infra structure has been partly done it has not been finished when it had to, bear in mind the infra- structure has to be built by the developer, but once finished it must be handed over to the town council and become public property. It is not considered as finished until the Town Council has received it. According to the dead-line in the Town Council Sector ‘A’ should have been finished in the year 2001, Sector ‘B’ should have been finished in 2005, and the rest of the site now. Taking into account houses have already been sold and people live their those deadlines have already finished.

Another important issue is the Town Council has not received the urbanization so the developer has to maintain the urbanization paying for all the expenses. At this moment none of the houses should have an Certificate of Habitation and no bank, no shop can be legally opened by law, but this is Spain. The fact that you can not have Certificate of Habitation means you can not have water supply provided by an official company, electrical supply etc… is it possible to get your money back? yes. Apparently your houses are finished, however they are not because finishing a house does not mean to finish the building it also means providing the necessary infra structure, you have bought houses in an Urban area not in the middle of the country side. As consumers and as buyers the law can help you – the Spanish law.

In the event that the developer decides to start building the houses before the infra structure is finished the developer has to make sure he has enough money to finish everything according to plan. The amount of money provided by this developer is not enough, an average of €600 was provided per house which is not enough. In order that the developer is given permission to build the developer has to pay an amount of money or has to make sure the money is there in the bank if they do not finish the house you can get your money back. Again finishing a house is also finishing the infra- structure on time. Now when we talk about infra-structure we are only referring to building, curbs, roads, lamp posts etc., we are not talking about health centers, schools etc… and bearing in mind the developer is getting a lot of money out of this there are a lot of thousands of people living here. The Town Council should have foreseen this situation and should have planned the building to made sure the habitants have all the necessary facilities.

If the developer was to build this urbanization again it would have to make sure that also facilities were built. So even if the infra-structure was completely finished it would be necessary to get facilities to provide with essential services, but that is not the particular legal issue at this point, it is partly a legal issue but it is also social and a political issue. The important thing is Camposol is not a place meant for having holidays, thousand of people have decided to live here and have a permanent resident in Camposol. That is important as far as the future maintenance of the urbanization is concerned.

I would like to make something very clear, the fact that there is an Entity to maintain this place is illegal. It should not exist because the Town Council has not received this urbanization yet. In future once the urbanization is fully received by the Town Council there has to be an Entity taking care of this issue. You have to have the existence of an Entity – in Spain it is a political issue.
The normal thing is that the Town Council is the one that takes care of the urbanization, the fact that the urbanization is maintained by the residents is understandable if we are talking about a holiday resort but not in this case for 3 reasons.

First of all the Council is aware of the situation Camposol is in, it allowed this situation. By the Town Council I mean the Council not the people working in it the institution. In most cases you are not tourists you are citizens, you do not own a house for a holiday it is your home therefore, the Town Council should assume it’s own responsibility on this issue and should be aware of the fact that in the future it is the one who takes care of this, it is a political issues supported by legal action.

This urbanization has been made in such a bad manner and so badly done that it is a risk now to the residents. Planning is defined by the developer then given to the Town Council and they pass it, consequently both are responsible for this bad planning. I think you should bear this in mind and you should tell the Town Council to take care of this.

I would finally comment on an issue of Tourist apartments, these are built on a plot of land designed for tourist resort and houses/homes can not be built. Tourist apartments and house are the same but, at a legal level they are different, tourist apartment is meant to obtain and to gain money and a house is meant to live in. But tourist apartments have been sold as houses here this is flawed. Accordingly tourist apartment is meant to gain a benefit. Tourist apartment can not have a Certificate of Habitation but a permit like a shop or bank. When you a buy an apartment it is not 7% tax but 16% tax. Another thing is the fact that this has happened and there may be some Notary’s who know that this has happened – but it is not legal. If you thought you were buying a real house there are rights you can exercise.

We have asked the Town Council to acknowledge the CRA representing the residents on Camposol but we have not had any news on this score yet we are still waiting, the idea is that this association can represent the residents not privately but publicly and officially.

Please note that the lawyers fund has been transferred to the Caixa Bank on sector B due to difficulties accessing the account with Bankinter after the recent robbery. Until further notice, please give your donations in to the CRA desk at Kennelly's post room between 4 and 5pm on Tuesday or Friday.

ATTENTION THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE PROPERTIES WHICH ARE AFFECTED BY SUBSIDENCE AND/OR HAVE BEEN DESIGNATED TOURISTICO.
On Wednesday 18th April, Joaquin Ruis Ataz of Garrigues will address the issue of subsidence; if your property is affected, he invites you to come along to
Kennelly's on "B" at 6.30pm
prompt.

On Wednesday 25th April, those who have properties which are affected by the issues surrounding the designation of Touristico are invited to come along and hear what Joaquin has to say.
Same time and place as above.
We respectfully request that only those with affected properties attend. Thank you for your co~operation.

We are pleased that so many people went to MASA's office following the public meeting on Saturday. We will be meeting with Joaquin on Wednesday 11th April where we will obtain pro-formers which he has prepared for us to pass on to you in respect of ALL the agencies, MASA ,Iberdrola and Agualia, which were mentioned by Joaquin at the meeting. This will serve to lessen the confusion, which, because of language difficulties seems to have thwarted peoples efforts to tackle MASA effectively.
If you want to challenge any of the above agents, please wait until we have the appropriate pro-former for you to take. There will be a representative of the CRA at the post room in Kennelly's every day this week between 4 and 5pm if you have any queries, or wish to discuss the matter with someone. Equally, we will advise you which MASA office to go along to in order to make your protest/request complaints forms.

The meeting yesterday was well attended. The presentation took around an hour, and questions were put to our lawyer, Joaquin, afterwards. During the course of next week, the tapes of the meeting will be transcribed, and a comprehensive analysis will appear in the next edition of the courier.
We would like to thank all those people who attended, all of whom conducted themselves with dignity and patience, despite the fact that much of Garrigues findings came as a shock to some.
Also thanks to everyone who has made a donation to the lawyer's fund. Those people who attended will be in no doubt now how important Garrigues is in terms of ongoing investigations to enable us to move forward, and make Camposol a legal urbanisation, and to ensure those who are responsible fulfil their obligations; we can do this, we have rights and needs which have been ignored for too long. The CRA will endeavour to make sure that your voice is heard. Join us, it costs nothing but a little time to register. Let's make our presence felt, and not least in the ballot box.