Friday, 29 January 2010

one million Britons living in Spain some 74 per cent revealed that repatriation is now a distinct possibility

one million Britons living in Spain some 74 per cent revealed that repatriation is now a distinct possibility, according to a study undertaken by Moneycorp.Some 37 per cent of those surveyed admitted that they were already looking into returning to the British Isles.The house market crash has seen the value of homes on the Costa del Sol crash to below 65 per cent their original asking price.


“Brits living in Spain are particularly affected by the struggling property market with many owning holiday homes and letting out their Spanish properties.”
Add the plummeting pound and limited job opportunities, the survey has fuelled fears that there could be a widespread exodus.
“Brits living in Europe are feeling the effects of the weak pound as they are more likely to be reliant on income from their British property, UK pension and other regular sources of funds,” said David Kerns, Head of Private Clients at Moneycorp.
“Brits living in Spain are particularly affected by the struggling property market with many owning holiday homes and letting out their Spanish properties.”


Meanwhile, the survey also revealed that more than a third of expatriates in Italy, Germany and France are also mulling over moving back to the UK.Kerns added: “Our research shows that British expats have had a tough time and the findings reveal that no country has escaped unharmed from the economic downturn.”
The survey interviewed 250 Europe-based UK expatriates and was conducted from October to November 2009.

Friday, 22 January 2010

Paul Lyons,born in 1961 ,was detained at Alicante airport last week and will be extradited to Scotland

Paul Lyons,born in 1961 ,was detained at Alicante airport last week and will be extradited to Scotland for an alleged crime committed there.He was allegedly involved in a fatal crash which is thought to have involved road rage.It is said that Lyons drove at a van on the M-74 near Larkhall in Scotland,causing the other vehicle to go off the road.The 32 year old driver was killed and his passenger was seriously injured.Mr Lyons faces a number of charges including causing death by dangerous driving.According to the police he was speeding,over the alcohol limit and driving dangerously.He was also serving a driving ban .Since his extradition he has appeared in court and has been remanded in custody.He had fled to Spain after the incident in Scotland and has been subject to a European arrest warrant.
The Spanish police have been working with the British Serious Organised Crime squad and they were on the look out for the person who was bringing the 2 year old son of Lyons out to Spain to see him.The Lyon family has been linked to organised crime in Glasgow it is alleged.

Tuesday, 19 January 2010

"Auken Report", which recommended EU sanctions against Spain if it did not act on illegal building and urban abuse

Margarite Auken, Danish MEP for the Green party and author of the controversial "Auken Report", which recommended EU sanctions against Spain if it did not act on illegal building and urban abuse, demanded yesterday in open parliamentary session that the EU ask for an official report from Madrid on how it will protected property rights for people who have purchased illegal homes.
The question, directed to the President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek, coincided with the appearance in front of the EU Parliament of Spanish President Zapatero, who was in Brussels to explain the six month Spanish programme for the EU. Spain took over the rotating presidency of the EU on the 1st of January 2010.
During her question, Ms Auken referred to the "worrying facts" revealed by her report. The Auken Report was approved by the EU in March 2009. "Spain has permitted a culture of endemic corruption to build up around construction" she said.It revealed to the EU the wide range of issues in Spain that has permitted the construction of hundreds of thousands of homes without any permits whatsoever.President Buzek did not reply immediately to the question, but is expected to give a response in the next few days."Many Spanish citizens feel that they must quietly accept fraud and corruption from building companies who can expel them from their homes without any compensation" said Ms Auken.Ms Auken pointed out that the Spanish government has so far refused to give an official reply to the Auken report and so she believes the time has come for the EU to officially demand a reply to the report.The report recommends EU sanctions against Spain if it does not act to tackle urban abuse and property instability in the region.
Willie Meyers, the Izquierda Unida MEP for Andalucia, also used the opportunity to attack the Spanish government for urban abuse.

The Reader recently had an exclusive interview with Mr Meyers when he visited Almeria during a fact finding mission on urban abuse in the province (An interview with MEP Willie Meyers ) where he explained his horror at what he had discovered.Mr Meyers's office has sent an official request to a number of Spanish departments within the Junta de Andalucia and the Spanish government to ask what, if any, notice they have taken of the Auken report.Mr Meyers has also bought the specific example of the Almanzora Valley to the attention of interested parliamentary groups within the EU.Meyer's office released a statement saying "he condemned the many examples of urban abuse produced by rampant and uncontrolled development over the last few years" and saying that innocent home owners must be protected at all costs.Meanwhile, Michael Cashman MEP, has written an open letter to Prime Minister Zapatero. Mr Cashman was one of the MEPs who asked for a European Parliamentary resolution to get Spain to put its house in order given the enormous number of petitions and complaints about building, environmental and urban abuses it had received. According to Mr Cashman there have been over 15,000 petitions as well as a daily flood of letters on this matter.

Councils on the Costa del Sol are urging foreign residents to register on the municipal electoral roll.

Many councils in Malaga fear tens of thousands of unregistered residents live in certain municipalities: in the case of Marbella, with an electoral roll of 140,000 people from 137 different nationalities, it is thought a further 100,000 people live without registering.
The failure to register means councils are losing money, as the Spanish state gives subsidies to each municipality based on the size of its electoral roll.
Marbella tourism councillor, José Luis Hernández, said: “The fact both Spanish and foreign residents fail to register on the electoral roll here helps to collapse our public services. It is because of this that we have half the police, hospitals, courts, schools and taxis that we really need for a town of this size.”

snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada 3 metres of snow cover over the ski terrain

2 hours from Spain’s Costa del Sol are the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada , Europe’s Southern-most ski resort.December saw the heaviest rain for 50 years fall on the Costa del Sol, officially ending five years of drought in the region and filling the reservoirs to capacity. Although it meant a wet Christmas for Costa del Sol residents, it has led to wonderful conditions in the nearby mountains with the resort management, Cetursa SA, announcing an impressive 3 metres of snow cover over the ski terrain. They are working hard to piste the new snow and hope to have all the runs open soon. To find out the latest information on the state of the pistes visit the British Ski Centre website.If you want to enjoy both the skiing and the warmth of the seaside, you should consider basing yourself on the Costa del Sol and taking a day trip up to the mountains. Alternatively, you could do a two centre holiday and stay in the mountains for one night (be warned the accommodation is expensive) and then move down to the Costa del Sol to relax before heading home.

Treasure of incalculable value has lain just off La Manga.

Buried beneath shells, rocks and sand, for 2,600 years, while the construction boom has been completely changing the surrounding landscape, a treasure of incalculable value has lain just off La Manga. 26 centuries later, archaeologists from eleven countries are bringing these antique objects to the light of day once again. The find appears to be the cargo of a commercial ship carrying ivory from African elephants, amber and lots of ceramic objects. The find has been kept secret for the past three years by the team of divers led by the Spaniard Juan Pinedo Reyes and the American Mark Edward Polzer. The recovery project is being financed by National Geographic, who have reached an agreement with the Spanish Minister of Culture, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology and the University A&M of Texas. The recovery is taking place around Grosa Island and El Farallon Island, just off La Manga. Over the last three years 1,400 objects have been collected. Even some of the wood from the bottom of the ship has survived since the 7th Century before Christ (620 BC), and has been recovered. It is believed the vessel measured approximately 15 metres long.

The find has been described as one of the most important of all archaeological discoveries. The Ivory tusks measure between 70 and 150 centimetres, with Phoenician writing inscribed. They have come from a race of elephants which are now believed to be extinct. There are also copper ingots and stones containing silver and lead. Ceramic pots which were used for transporting fish and oil have been found too, as well as plates, bowls, combs, ivory knife handles, bronze needles and chandeliers.

It is believed the ship crashed into rocks off the island, which are just a metre and a half below the surface. The ship would have set sail from Cadiz, and was probably heading towards Guardamar to a factory there, or to deliver items to a prince living in the area.

Spain is complaining" about the rule, "as more and more northern Europeans choose to retire along its Mediterranean coast."

"Most countries in the European Union offer universal health coverage for their citizens. And when a citizen from one EU country travels to, or lives in another one, they also are covered. But now Spain is complaining" about the rule, "as more and more northern Europeans choose to retire along its Mediterranean coast." NPR likens the situation along Spain's Costa del Sol to that of Florida, where many U.S. seniors with costly health problems retire (Socolovsky, 1/19). SiMAP union, representing public health doctors in Spain, said non-Spanish EU nationals in Alicante, which has a large British expat community, account for 15-20 per cent of hospital admissions. Criticism is not directed at those who register their residency status and pay taxes, but at expats in the black economy who expect to get treatment by producing a European Health Insurance Card (Ehic), which is designed for the emergency care of holidaymakers. many thousands of Britons who regularly flip between homes in Britain and Iberia are also thought to arrange trips according to where they may get the best treatment, or jump waiting lists. Politicians have been concerned about healthcare "freeloaders" for several years, but Spanish doctors have been more muted. They have to decide what is "emergency" treatment and what isn't and, according to anecdotal reports, have tended to take the patient's word.
But Spain's health budget is as much under pressure as the NHS and the SiMAP move reflects fears among Spanish doctors of further belt-tightening. Cutbacks are bound to raise questions about the availability of resources for patients. The Spanish regions – which are autonomous in matters of health provision – have moved to prevent foreign nationals exploiting "free" healthcare. The last to take this step was Valencia. Two months ago, it introduced measures by which expatriates below retirement age and not registered as employed would no longer get free access.
They are now paying a €90 (£80) monthly tax, which will cease once they reach retirement age. The move brings Valencia into line with the rest of Spain – and France, where President Sarkozy took similar steps in 2007. But thousands of British men under 65 and women under 60 are still thought to be working unregistered in Valencia, the Costa del Sol and other expat

Friday, 15 January 2010

Anthony Kearney, 45, and Donna McCafferty, 43, were tracked down to the Costa Blanca

fraudster who appeared on Britain's most wanted list with his girlfriend after they fled to Spain was jailed on Friday.Anthony Kearney, 45, and Donna McCafferty, 43, were tracked down to the Costa Blanca in November 2008 within 24 hours of a Crimestoppers appeal.The couple, who illegally claimed thousands of pounds in housing benefit, admitted a string of charges at Glasgow Sheriff Court last month. Kearney was sentenced to a total of four years and four months after pleading guilty to three fraud charges and one under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

1,000 cellophane wrapped balls of hashish

1,000 cellophane wrapped balls of hashish – enough for 28,000 “joints” – have been recovered from the intestines of seven young Moroccan men who arrived at Almeria port recently.

Marbella planning office, counted a total of 38,194 buildings which do not comply with the current PGOU Urban Plan guidelines

The Marbella planning office, counted a total of 38,194 buildings which do not comply with the current PGOU Urban Plan guidelines, which was approved in 1986.The list of illegal properties includes homes, hotels, schools, gas stations, golf courses, shopping malls, industrial warehouses and a heliport.90 per cent of the buildings are homes.La Opinión de Málaga published the figures on Monday.

Wednesday, 13 January 2010

Juan Antonio Roca and Julián Muñoz must return thousands spent on restaurants, hotels and bonuses claimed through a municipal company

Juan Antonio Roca and Julián Muñoz must return thousands spent on restaurants, hotels and bonuses claimed through a municipal companyTwo of the people accused in Marbella’s Malaya case have been ordered to pay back more than 300,000 € of ‘unjustified expenses’ claimed from Marbella Town Hall in a ruling from the Court of Auditors regarding the municipal company Planeamiento 2000. The Town Hall had claimed the much higher amount of 1.8 million €. It relates to company accounts between 1997 and 2001 when the man at the centre of the Malaya corruption, the former municipal real estate assessor, Juan Antonio Roca, was manager of Planeamiento 2000 and the town’s former Mayor, Julián Muñoz, was chairman of the board.Both must share the cost of paying back the money with two others seen to have been involved, former Marbella councillor, Esteban Guzmán, and the lawyer, Modesto Perodia. Diario Sur reports the four have also been charged the interest on the amount, more than 122,000 €.The paper notes that the expenses relate to thousands of euros spent in restaurants, plane tickets to Madrid, hotel bills and ‘unjustified bonuses’, in Roca’s case, amounting to almost 223,000 €. The court did not however accept a claim from Marbella Town Hall for 900,000 € which had been paid into the Planeamiento 2000 account by the Mancomunidad to purchase the land on which the desalination plant would later be built. The Tribunal de Cuentas considered it not proved that the funds had later been withdrawn from the account or had been ‘improperly used’.Diario Sur reports two other rulings from the Tribunal de Cuentas last year which, in addition to this latest, mean the ex Mayor, Julián Muñoz, now owes close to 17 million € in the repayments plus interest he must make to Marbella Town Hall.

12 kilos of heroin were discovered in the fuel tank of a car intercepted in Tui, Pontevedra

Two people have been taken into custody by police after 12 kilos of heroin were discovered in the fuel tank of a car intercepted in Tui, Pontevedra, in Galicia. Officers found 21 packages of the drug floating in the tank when they inspected the vehicle.The drugs were transported to Galicia by a Madrid-based gang from Kosovo which had been under police surveillance for some time and which the Interior Ministry said supplied heroin to dealers across the country. The two suspects in custody are the car driver and another gang member who was arrested at the same time in Madrid.Detectives found more than 100,000 € in cash in a search of the flat the group used as their base in the Spanish capital, and also seized 18 mobile phones and a laptop computer. Further arrests have not been ruled out as investigations continue.

Marbella It's part euro, part trash.'

'Puerto Banus is like Soho,' he told me at his house. 'You can come out of a theatre in the West End and go to a beautiful restaurant, or go into a side street and find hookers and drug addicts. It's the same here.'
Max, only half-jokingly, suggested that he'd like to be mayor and sort it out. 'I'd clean it up,' he said. 'Someone needs to, because the prostitutes are getting younger and drugs are being sold more brazenly. It's getting rougher.'
One of the main culprits locals blame for the disintegration of Marbella's image is Gary Lineker's brother, Wayne, a cheeky-chappie character with a big grin and even bigger bank balance. His chain of Lineker's bars have become hugely popular throughout Southern Europe. I interviewed him in his main Puerto Banus bar and he was totally unrepentant.
'Marbella's a high-profile place,' he chortled, 'and fortunately for Lineker's, it's turning towards the crowd we want, the working-class British man and woman. We go through 15,000 bottles of beer a weekend now. And the more mucky stories that people write about the place back in Britain, the better business gets. Where there's muck there's money!'
Asked what his message to the rich and famous of Marbella was, Wayne smirked and pronounced: 'Do one.' Which I believe is Lineker's speak for 'Go forth and multiply.'
In the great old days of the town, Ava Gardner and Audrey Hepburn would dine with the likes of Cary Grant and Laurence Olivier at the fashionable Marbella Club.
Today, the cast list of luminaries is a little lower down the celebrity ladder. I ventured down to the coast again to meet up with Bianca Gascoigne, stepdaughter of footballer Gazza, at the infamous Nikki Beach bar. As we spoke, hundreds of half-naked young people began spraying vintage champagne on each other in a four-hourly exercise called, naturally, Champagne Spray Party.
'Do you think this is a sensible thing to be doing in the middle of a recession?' I asked Bianca. 'Absolutely not,' the cheeky minx replied, 'but it's definitely a fun thing to do!'
And that is the attitude of most of the revellers in Marbella. 'Having fun' is the order of the day, and as much of it as you can possibly cram into 24 hours.
'I'm meeting up with Calum Best later,' Bianca giggled, conjuring up the mind-boggling prospect of a Best and a Gascoigne getting drunk together.
One reason the celebrities at each end of the ladder love it so much is that nobody in Marbella, outside of the expats like Max Clifford, seems to care very much what you get up to or what you did in your past.
I found one legendary old rogue, Princess Diana's cad James Hewitt, running a smart new restaurant called the Polo House in Marbella's most exclusive street.
'I had to get away from Britain,' he admitted, 'and this has been the perfect refuge for me. There are no paparazzi, nobody bothers me except when I am happy to be bothered in the restaurant, and I've found the peace and privacy that I could never have back home.
'It's also a very comfortable lifestyle here. But there are two very different worlds. Since the cheap easyJet flights came in, all the hen and stag parties have started flooding into Puerto Banus, and that's changed the character a little from the quite smart, glamorous place it used to be.
'It's also driven the really rich people out a bit, tucked away in the secluded areas on the outskirts.'
That's indisputably true. But the rich still head down to the port occasionally to hit their credit cards in one of the world's most expensive shopping precincts.
I went shopping with former Birmingham City soccer boss Karren Brady. She's about to join Lord Alan Sugar as his new Apprentice sidekick, so should know a thing or two about business. But watching her sweep through Gucci, Prada and Fendi like a human vacuum cleaner was a terrifying spectacle.
Her eyes alighted on a rather plain-looking handbag. 'Oooh, that's lovely,' she cooed. 'You can never have enough handbags.' This one boasted a price tag of £15,000.
'Who the hell buys this kind of thing?' I gasped.
'Oh, there's a lot of serious wealth in Marbella,' she chuckled. 'And they come down to Puerto Banus for the glamour, the yachts, the celebrities, the shops. There are two sides to this place. But both sides are quite fun. It's part euro, part trash.'
And that, at its heart, is Marbella. A place to retire to, party in, make a fortune, spend a fortune, drink shots, get shot --whatever takes your fancy.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1242085/Piers-Morgan-heads-Marbella-Spains-Butlins-billionaires.html#ixzz0cUYOMKHk

Marbella was the best in the 80s, Freddie Foreman was cool.


Marbella was the best in the 80s, Freddie Foreman was cool.'Puerto Banus is like Soho,' he told me at his house. 'You can come out of a theatre in the West End and go to a beautiful restaurant, or go into a side street and find hookers and drug addicts. It's the same here.'
Max, only half-jokingly, suggested that he'd like to be mayor and sort it out. 'I'd clean it up,' he said. 'Someone needs to, because the prostitutes are getting younger and drugs are being sold more brazenly. It's getting rougher.'
One of the main culprits locals blame for the disintegration of Marbella's image is Gary Lineker's brother, Wayne, a cheeky-chappie character with a big grin and even bigger bank balance. His chain of Lineker's bars have become hugely popular throughout Southern Europe. I interviewed him in his main Puerto Banus bar and he was totally unrepentant.
'Marbella's a high-profile place,' he chortled, 'and fortunately for Lineker's, it's turning towards the crowd we want, the working-class British man and woman. We go through 15,000 bottles of beer a weekend now. And the more mucky stories that people write about the place back in Britain, the better business gets. Where there's muck there's money!'
Asked what his message to the rich and famous of Marbella was, Wayne smirked and pronounced: 'Do one.' Which I believe is Lineker's speak for 'Go forth and multiply.'
In the great old days of the town, Ava Gardner and Audrey Hepburn would dine with the likes of Cary Grant and Laurence Olivier at the fashionable Marbella Club.
Today, the cast list of luminaries is a little lower down the celebrity ladder. I ventured down to the coast again to meet up with Bianca Gascoigne, stepdaughter of footballer Gazza, at the infamous Nikki Beach bar. As we spoke, hundreds of half-naked young people began spraying vintage champagne on each other in a four-hourly exercise called, naturally, Champagne Spray Party.
'Do you think this is a sensible thing to be doing in the middle of a recession?' I asked Bianca. 'Absolutely not,' the cheeky minx replied, 'but it's definitely a fun thing to do!'
And that is the attitude of most of the revellers in Marbella. 'Having fun' is the order of the day, and as much of it as you can possibly cram into 24 hours.
'I'm meeting up with Calum Best later,' Bianca giggled, conjuring up the mind-boggling prospect of a Best and a Gascoigne getting drunk together.
One reason the celebrities at each end of the ladder love it so much is that nobody in Marbella, outside of the expats like Max Clifford, seems to care very much what you get up to or what you did in your past.
I found one legendary old rogue, Princess Diana's cad James Hewitt, running a smart new restaurant called the Polo House in Marbella's most exclusive street.
'I had to get away from Britain,' he admitted, 'and this has been the perfect refuge for me. There are no paparazzi, nobody bothers me except when I am happy to be bothered in the restaurant, and I've found the peace and privacy that I could never have back home.
'It's also a very comfortable lifestyle here. But there are two very different worlds. Since the cheap easyJet flights came in, all the hen and stag parties have started flooding into Puerto Banus, and that's changed the character a little from the quite smart, glamorous place it used to be.
'It's also driven the really rich people out a bit, tucked away in the secluded areas on the outskirts.'
That's indisputably true. But the rich still head down to the port occasionally to hit their credit cards in one of the world's most expensive shopping precincts.
I went shopping with former Birmingham City soccer boss Karren Brady. She's about to join Lord Alan Sugar as his new Apprentice sidekick, so should know a thing or two about business. But watching her sweep through Gucci, Prada and Fendi like a human vacuum cleaner was a terrifying spectacle.
Her eyes alighted on a rather plain-looking handbag. 'Oooh, that's lovely,' she cooed. 'You can never have enough handbags.' This one boasted a price tag of £15,000.
'Who the hell buys this kind of thing?' I gasped.
'Oh, there's a lot of serious wealth in Marbella,' she chuckled. 'And they come down to Puerto Banus for the glamour, the yachts, the celebrities, the shops. There are two sides to this place. But both sides are quite fun. It's part euro, part trash.'
And that, at its heart, is Marbella. A place to retire to, party in, make a fortune, spend a fortune, drink shots, get shot --whatever takes your fancy.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1242085/Piers-Morgan-heads-Marbella-Spains-Butlins-billionaires.html#ixzz0cUYOMKHk

Blogger Themes

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Share

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More