Depressed, angry and at their wits’ end, the high-profile British couple given permission to create a home on the Ria Formosa island of Armona - and then told it was illegal and would have to be bulldozed - took their fight to Minister, Pedro Matos Fernandes yesterday by mounting a protest in front of the Environment Ministry.
For two hours, James Tod and Paul Roseby handed out leaflets to incoming Ministry staff complaining that they are caught in the middle of a legal wrangle that has nothing to do with them and, the way things are going, will not be resolved in their lifetime.
Despite assurances from Olhão’s Mayor, António Pina and the Minister himself that the couple just have to wait and everything will be sorted out, the Environment Agency is pushing for demolition of the couple’s part-completed dream home, and the destruction of 140 neighbouring properties that have been authorised by the local Council over the years but now are deemed to be illegally situated.
- In 2014 we bought two houses in the Algarve and continue to pay their legal taxes
- On March 1st 2016, the local Council gives the licence to start the construction works of the houses
- 12th of May 2016 Environmental agencies disputed the legality of the construction licence and embargoed the works
- Our assets are now frozen for 28 months and houses are left to deteriorate
- The cost to us is €7,800 per month; a loss so far of €218,000
- To date we are the innocent victims of warring government agencies!
- On August 21st 2017, Minister Fernandes publicly confirmed to end our crisis within four months
- One year later – no change, just more lies in violation of our human rights!
Luckily, Minister Fernandes was in Lisbon on Tuesday and asked to see the couple after their peaceful protest was over.
Fernandes, “is now fully aware of our impossible situation and is meeting again with Pina this week and we hope to have news next week that he respectfully promised to share with us by Monday,” commented Roseby, adding that “We were very grateful for his time and sincere honesty.”
This is not the first protest in what has become a legal and administrative circus for this couple who both work in the theatre sector, but “sadly it is very clear to us that the situation has not progressed as much as we have been led to believe over the past year since our collective protest outside Olhão Camara in August 2017.”
Behind the scene in all of this is the spectre of Sebastião Teixeira, determined to destroy as many properties on the Ria Formosa islands as legally possible.
The vilified Teixeira, known locally as 'demolition man,' was behind the clinical dispossession of many members of the Culatra island community and got sacked from Polis Litoral Ria Formosa by upstaging his Minister. Sadly, teixeira remained at the helm of the Portuguese Environment Agency for the Algarve region where his dedication to being as inflexible as humanly possible, is an example to many ambitious public servants.
One of the more bizarre solutions being developed by Olhão Council is to offer each of the 140 or so property owners a clean plot elsewhere on the island to where they can ‘move their property’ at their own expense, naturally.
As for the effects this sort of wrangle has on law-abiding foreign citizens keen to adhere to the law and fully expecting swift remedy when things go wrong, the couple explain:
“We are physically and mentally exhausted by being treated like criminals, trapped in a Portuguese system of total inertia, so feel that our last endeavour to gain any justice will be to chain ourselves to Government property. After all, isn’t that what happens to criminals?”
The lack of information and communication is the bane of all dealings with the judicial system in Portugal, something Roseby now appreciates,
“At no point during this nightmare have any government officials guilty of this mess ever shown any urgency, empathy or respect for its law abiding taxpaying victims. The environment is not just about nature it’s about people too. And like us some of those people are worthy custodians of a fragile ecosystem.”
Roseby and Tod explain the reason for their protest:
“We are protesting outside João Pedro Matos Fernandes, the Environment Minister’s office, because of his public proclamation made last August 21st that our injustice was to be solved by Dec 2017.
“We finally believed our nightmare was over. This did not happen and after more false promises we are saddened, angered, and violated by Portugal’s national and local Government’s inability to communicate honestly and finally resolve our financially and emotionally crippling situation.
“We have been lied to, ignored, and left to fight and pay for a battle that was never ours to fight. We are innocent victims of warring government agencies and an administration that has not resolved a critical situation for many of its citizens: João Fernandes and the Ministry of the Environment; António Pina and Olhão Câmara; ICNF; Polis Ria Formosa; APA, are all complicit in making a bad situation worse with zero accountability for their lack of respect to real people’s lives, their homes and their democratic rights.
“The constant threat to us, with numerous court actions, and even a police investigation, all amount to state bullying and our reputation is now severely damaged. We have been made to look and feel like criminals.
“We demand truth, transparency and democratic respect worthy of a government that professes to have socialist principles and care for its diverse community. We ask the Minister to finally deliver his promise today, September 4th 2018. One stroke of a pen and we can live peaceful happy lives in the country we love."
Armona, years of illegal properties due to be destroyed despite Council permission to build
Above and below - Roseby and Tod 'Brits in Portugal Hell'
