A hugely controversial tourist development planned on the coast at João D'Arens, Portimão, has failed to obtain a positive Environmental Impact Assessment.
The construction of three hotels with more than 600 tourist beds, on the João D'Arens site between Tres Irmãos and Vau beaches, obtained an unfavourable Environmental Impact Statement as confirmed on Wednesday by the CCDR-Algarve.
According to the Coordination Committee, the evaluation was issued by the CCDR itself on May 3, after an unfavorable opinion from the Evaluation Committee responsible for the technical analysis of the study.
The Committee considered that, regardless of the measures proposed in the Environmental Impact Study, "the project does not meet the conditions to be made feasible, particularly with regard to factors such as biodiversity and landscape."
The same document warns that "in addition to the destruction of almost three hectares of one of the most representative nuclei of the plant, 'Linaria algarviana', a species under threat and only found in the Barlavento region of the Algarve, and protected by Natura 2000, there are irreversible impacts on the scenic structure and quality of the landscape that could compromise the identity of one of the areas that preserves the original features of the regional coastal landscape."
It was also taken into account that the planned urban-tourist occupation is framed by a territorial plan which, together with other similar instruments still in force, foresee a potential overall build for the coastal strip of the western coastline of the Algarve, in the order of 20,000 further tourist beds.
Astronow, MI Estoril Invest, Areia Feliz, Top Building and Prainha had entered into an agreement to develop the greenfield site and have yet to respond to the negative opinion issued by the CCDR-Algarve.
Portimão Council, in support of the project to the extent of blocking public access to the documentation during the consultancy phase, has yet to issue comment.
Comments
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Is there something wrong with living in the comfort of a Republic, where one's income is not used to prop up one family and their extended relatives and where half of the population of this kingdom resides below the poverty line.
Give me a Republic everytime, not only has Portugal chosen this type of Governance, so has France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, USA, China and so on.
And remember Maxwell, you have chosen to live in a Republic.....
But as far as Brexit is concerned, the current situation in the Commons reflects quite well the Brexit vote of June 2016. Over such large numbers, too close to call. We have an example here of democracy working well. The Prime Minister does her limited best in an impossible situation, and it is down to the Commons to find a solution.
This Brexit legacy is Cameron´s Curse on the country, a Pandora´s Box. Or to use another metaphor, we shall never get this particular genie back into the bottle.
You have a government lead by PM that has been appointed by stealth and is refusing to grant the wishes of a majority.
You have a government that has gone against the wishes of local communities when it comes to destroying the Yorkshire countryside by allowing fracking companies to extract shale gas from one of the prettiest parts of the country. All this has been granted without an environmental assessment, perhaps those bulky envelopes also work in the UK.
These are only very few examples of the actions you call a developed EU state. If we look at the actions the UK has take against the will of the people outside their own country, by attacking sovereign nations without a UN resolution, well how many countries has it been in the last 20 years?
Not to mention aiding and providing military support to Saudi Arabia, ruled by fanatics, that are causing a genocide in Yemen as we speak. How many people know or support the fact that their own PM is lobbying for the military industrial complex in countries that don't practice any form of democracy?
These are the actions of a more evolved civilised EU country.
In any case decisions have already been taken; contracts and bulky envelopes exchanged so why waste time with these new fangled EU mandated public administration procedures - so obviously impossible to apply in Portugal - when you could be out foraging for your next meal?
I would like to request that comment writer's use the name of the company or person named in the article to vent their frustrations instead of lovely people of Portugal and their country.
PLEASE stop using insulting terms, such as the more evolved part of the EU.
More "evolved" may be a concept that some people mistakenly use in the belief that capitalism is "more evolved", how wrong they are.