The Urban Planning councillor, Carmen Casero, has announced that the City Council is working on finding plots to grant a public concession. The aim is to establish a regulated space for campervans following the closure of the Sacaba settlement.
The City Council of Málaga has taken the first concrete step to offer an alternative to campervan users who were evicted from the Sacaba site. The Urban Planning councillor, Carmen Casero, confirmed this Thursday at the Urban Planning Board that the City Council is looking for publicly owned plots to create a regulated space through a public concession.
This administrative figure allows the use of public land to be granted for a specified time and under specific conditions, which would enable the preparation of land for campervan parking. The measure responds to the intention already expressed by the mayor, Francisco de la Torre, to provide the city with an orderly area for this community.
The Sacaba conflict and neighbourhood complaints
The eviction of the Sacaba settlement, carried out last week, has generated intense political and social debate. The City Council justified the action on grounds of health, safety, and coexistence, following years of complaints from residents of the neighbourhood, a humble and working-class area of the Carretera de Cádiz district.
The district councillor, Paco Pomares, defended the municipal decision, asserting that it responded to the repeated pleas for help from residents. According to Pomares, among the reported problems were "weapons, drug use" and situations that had caused many residents to live "in fear". The councillor also recalled that the plot is privately owned, belonging to Repsol, and that the City Council acted after verifying the unsustainability of the situation.
Pomares criticized the opposition's stance, accusing them of "defending the aggressors and not the victims". He explained that the Local Police identified the individuals who remained in the settlement and that currently only three caravans are left on the plot, which is now closed to prevent new access.
The search for an urban solution
The socialist spokesperson, Mariano Ruiz Araujo, asked during the session what the urban alternative would be following the eviction. In response, Casero detailed that the City Council "is working on finding plots for a public concession to enable land use". The councillor did not specify timelines or exact locations but assured that the government team is committed to finding a solution.
The public concession is an instrument that has already been used in other cities to regulate campervan parking on public land. In Málaga, the campervan community has repeatedly requested a dignified space with basic services, away from the legal insecurity that the Sacaba settlement represented.
Councillor Pomares added that part of the campervan community has already contacted the district to seek a solution. "I will defend the humble and simple people who have asked for help from their City Council and have received a response," he stated, referring both to the residents of Sacaba and to the campervan users seeking a legal alternative.
For the residents of Málaga, this news represents progress in addressing a conflict that has been entrenched for years. The creation of a regulated parking area for campervans would not only respond to a growing community but also prevent coexistence problems like those experienced in Sacaba. The City Council will now need to specify the plot and management model, something that could be known in the coming weeks.
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