Environmental organisation, Almargem, has weighed into the fight to protect Ponta João de Aréns near Alvor from a three hotel development, referring to the clifftop area as, “one of the last and most notable untapped coast of the municipality of Portimão.”
“Marked by its unique natural landscape, this stretch of coastline has long awakened the appetite of several real estate developers...”
The plan, approved in 2008 by the Portimão Municipal Assembly, along with more than a dozen other urbanisation plans in the region, has been amnestied (twice), thus avoiding the application of new planning rules without considering other alternatives.
Almargem says the project, “clearly is an error from the point of view of planning and a gross environmental attack, which goes against the effort so often made by the regional authorities in the pursuit of a (more) sustainable model for the region, in a clear repetition of the mistakes of a past, as if nothing had been learned.”
From the analysis of the public consultation process, “Almargem considers that the conclusions of the Environmental Impact Assessment clearly are biased, ignoring or devaluing various impacts, namely that this project is adding to the cumulative effect of development across the region, the direct impact on the natural area and the alteration of the landscape due to the visual intrusion of buildings, in an area within 500 metres from the coastline - soon to be banned under new coastal planning laws.
The environmental organisation also states that biodiversity is at risk, taking into account the presence of important semi-natural habitats and that the location is host to 'Linaria algarviana,' an endemic plant considered to be endangered and which enjoys legal protection.
The environmentalists hope the project will be kicked out by the CCDR-Algarve, also that the development is against the Minister of Environment’s comments on coastal hotel development in the region when he said that enough is enough.
See also:
1. Portimão Council denies public access to hotel site planning documents Members of 'Citizens Against Construction at João de Arens,' in fierce opposition to the construction of hotels in countryside on the Portimão coastline, have been prevented from accessing the plannin ...Created on 07 March 2019
2. Three-hotel development in Alvor on 46 hectares ... came together because they owned separate adjacent lots in the area near Praia João de Arens. Astronow, MI Estoril Invest, Areia Feliz, Top Building and Prainha have entered into an agreement to develop ...Created on 08 February 2019
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