Los Lances: five mega-developments loom over one of Europe’s most pristine coastlines
A plan inherited from 1990 would urbanise over 3.5 million m² along the Valdevaqueros and Los Lances shoreline. Environmental groups are pushing back.
In Tarifa, one of Europe’s last great unspoilt coastlines is under pressure again. According to La Voz del Sur, five large developments inherited from the 1990 urban plan (PGOU) remain on the books along the Valdevaqueros and Los Lances shoreline, totalling 3,575,355 m².
The most advanced, sector SUO L1 SL3 Los Lances, covers 616,578 m² and plans 824 homes plus hotels totalling 1,678 beds. The area borders the Strait Natural Park and the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
The figures are striking: a +177% rise in developable land, an estimated water use of 626,877 m³ (against the roughly one million m³ all of Tarifa consumes today) and the privatisation of 184,937 m² of the La Peña public hillside. The partial plan was approved by Tarifa town hall and the Andalusian government in 2004.
Ecologistas en Acción / Agaden calls the file unlawful, has filed 47 formal objections and is threatening legal action.
The case sums up Tarifa’s constant tug-of-war between real-estate pressure and protecting a one-of-a-kind coast.