A group of residents from Las Chapas has reported to the Junta de Andalucía the felling of hundreds of trees around the former Estrella del Mar hotel, with the support of Ecologistas en Acción and Marbella Activa.
The complaint, submitted to the Delegation of Sustainability and Environment of the Junta, states that in recent years there has been an intense urban transformation in the Las Chapas district, characterised by the near-total removal of trees to make way for new buildings. Residents warn that this practice represents a significant loss of established tree cover of coastal Mediterranean pine forests, altering the landscape and urban biodiversity.
A continued pattern of vegetation destruction
This is not the first time this has happened. According to the complainants, similar processes have been recorded on both sides of Diego Velázquez street, on Italy street next to Avenida de España, and on land between the A-7 motorway and the Don Carlos Hotel, where tree removal work continues to this day. There is a continued pattern of disappearance of vegetation cover in the district, residents report.
The loss of hundreds of mature trees generates significant environmental consequences that transcend the urban realm. Their disappearance represents a objective deterioration of the environmental and landscape quality of the area, according to the submitted document. Furthermore, replacing the tree-covered landscape with high-density buildings could lead to a loss of residential appeal and a potential depreciation of existing properties.
Impact on mobility and protected wildlife
The increase in building density also affects mobility. Residents warn of an increase in traffic intensity on the A-7 motorway and the local road network, which are already subject to high levels of congestion. New developments demand more parking in an area that already has significant parking deficits, encouraging illegal parking and road safety issues.
Ecologistas en Acción also warns that, apart from trees, shrubs and other vegetation are being removed without any preventive control, affecting protected flora and fauna species under regional, national, and European legislation. The organisation recalls that they have reported the inconsistent urban policy of the Marbella City Council on numerous occasions.
Petition for signatures and inspection request
Residents have started a petition on the change.org platform to support a manifesto reflecting on the future of the city. In it, they argue that Marbella should continue to be an international benchmark for residential tourism with excellent quality of life, with urban regulations that prevent the destruction of its natural environment. They presume that municipal political leaders share this goal, but consider it unacceptable that urban developments are authorised with no environmental respect.
The complaint requests that the Environmental Protection Service inspects the actions and verifies whether they fully comply with applicable environmental, forestry, landscape, and urban regulations, especially regarding the protection of existing trees and protected flora and fauna. In case of non-compliance, they ask for precautionary and definitive measures to be adopted, including the suspension of any actions that could cause difficult-to-repair environmental damage.
Marbella Activa reminds that they have reported the inconsistent urban policy of the City Council on numerous occasions and its resistance to abandoning a fierce development model with evident revenue-seeking motives. They believe that the discourse of respect for green areas contradicts the recurrent tree felling and a reality that allows real estate actions that clash with the garden city concept of the 1986 PGOU.
For now, residents await a response from the Junta de Andalucía. In the meantime, the petition platform continues to gain support. Anyone wishing to join can do so through change.org, where the manifesto already has hundreds of signatures. The question that hangs in the air is whether the authorities will act before the last pine tree in Las Chapas falls under the excavator.
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