Portimão council has scuppered plans by Butwell Trading to build a tourist development at Quinta da Rocha by the river at Alvor.
The council executive voted "immediately to suspend the current proposal" from Butwell to the delight of eco-organisations and members of the public who have campaigned for years against the destruction of the natural riverside habitat by companies controlled by Aprígio Santos (pictured), millionaire property developer, football club owner and eco-vandal.
The motion against the development was approved with six votes from the Left Bloc and CDU, one vote for the plan from the ‘To serve Portimão’ coalition and a concerning 15 abstentions from councillors who apparently could not make up their minds to protect the registered natural habitat in the face of opportunistic property development.
The councillors took into account previous judgments by the Administrative and Fiscal Court in Loulé back in 2012, which banned the owners of the Quinta da Rocha estate from carrying out any further work on the land which is a protected area. The court decision was confirmed in 2014 and Butwell has to reinstate areas damaged by its machinery and pay compensation to eco-organisation A Rocha.
The council agreed that 'the proposal of a Tourism Development Center does not respect the PROTAL (Regional Plan for the Algarve), or the land’s official protected status under the Conservation Institute for Nature and Forest or the land classification for the Portimão region which designates the land as rural, not urban or able to be urbanised as it is a natural space.’
The proposal by Butwell Trading, controlled by Aprígio Santos, was not accompanied by an environmental impact assessment.
Butwell Trading and Investment SA owns the land, is registered in the free zone of Madeira, and is a subsidiary of Imoholding which is owned by Aprígio dos Santos
The Left Bloc stressed that over 1,400 people had signed an online petition against this project and more than 100 complaints had been sent directly to the Mayor of Portimão against the development.
The public consultation on the Quinta da Rocha development plans which ended on 20 February received 112 officially recognised contributions, according to Sul Informaçao.
After the public consultation there was meant to be "a report on the suggestions, observations and complaints to be assessed by a jury composed of representatives of the Commission Coordination and Regional Development of the Algarve, the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forestry, Tourism Portugal and Portimão council.
The report summarising the complaints received during the public consultation period, "will be produced during July" and presented to the Council for discussion but as councillors already has voted to ditvh the Butwell proposal, it is not clear whether this report now is of any importance in the planning process.
Aprígio Santos and Butwell Trading no doubt will continue their fight to develop this natural area as Santos paid €15 million for the property which, without planning permission, shows a multi-million euro loss to add to his troubled property empire, much of which he is trying to sell to the Chinese.
Santos bought the 200 hectare estate from businessman Joe Berardo who had purchased the property eight years earlier for just €2 million.
