Demolition of the Restaurante Mediterraneo, El Mojón.

Restaurante Mediterráneo, El Mojón

El Mojón beach

Modern history, The Ley de Costas in El Mojón.

The controversial Ley de Costas has claimed many victims along the Spanish coast, any construction breaching the Public domain liable for demolition.
Whilst this law was passed in 1988 to prevent over-development along the Spanish coastline, many of the buildings which it affects were built prior to the creation of the law, and even before any delimitation was created along the coastline.

The Restaurante Mediterráneo in El Mojón existed long before any of the urbanisations which now characterise the area were even planned, built in the days when El Mojón was just a small fishing community, comprising a few scattered houses.

Originally, the premises of the restaurant were used as a sailmakers yard and date back around 100 years.
In 1929, the family obtained a concession to serve food, although as subsequent generations inherited the premises, the original concession expired without being renewed.
As time moved on, the owners began to prepare Caldero to sell, a practice which was common in the days before tourism became widespread, when many of the "restaurants" selling food were simply a front room in a private home, opened for the provision of food.

In the 1970´s , when the tourism boom began, the premises was turned into a restaurant by the descendants of the original family, the family Garcerán Pérez,  and as time passed became synonomous with good seafood, paellas, caldero and El Mojón.

The restaurant still maintained an escritura and the family continued to pay municipal taxes, even when the Costas department decided to create the line denoting what it deemed to be public land, land upon which this restaurant had been built.

In 1988 the Ley de Costas was passed, granting Costas total power to control the public domain, and properties within the Public domain were granted licences of up to 30 years at the discretion of the Costas department for the properties which already existed.

Property owners have to abide by strict rules, and are not even allowed to carry out maintenance to their properties; failure to request permission for repairs or changes to the property resulting in the right to issue a demolition order at the discretion of Costas, before the expiry of the lease.

In the case of the restaurant, the owners had amplified the property, creating additional storage, without permission,  so Costas issued a demolition order.

In spite of a 4 year legal battle, in which the owners offered to demolish the offending section of the restaurant and return it to its original condition, the restaurant was demolished on 17th July 2008, despite the pleas of the owner that they at least be allowed to finish the summer season before the demolition took place.

Local residents say that the selected day, 17th July, was an added blow, as this is the day of the Virgen del Carmen, Patrona of the fishing fleet, so whilst the fishing community in San Pedro del Pinatar was celebrating the day of the Virgen and her protection of the fishing fleet, one of the oldest fishing restaurants in the region was being demolished.

The family were charged to demolish their own restaurant, by the hour, for the JCB, and also had to pay the costs of removing the rubble and putting sand back on the site where the restaurant had formerly stood.

The family have continued to work in El Mojón, and today their  traditional Mar Menor cuisine can be enjoyed at the restaurant of the same name which is on the street corner opposite the location of the former family restaurant.

They are still angry that the modern apartment blocks which are next to the location of the former restaurant have not been demolished, in spite of the line delimiting the Public Domain passing right through the centre of them.

The Directof of Costas was interviewed by the La Verdad newspaper on the day of the demolitions and said, " if there are buildings in the public domain they will have their orders, one after the other. This particular case has passed through all the various court appeals and as much as it upsets me personally, if a judge orders this, then it has to be done. »

So what replaced the restaurant and has it been to the benefit of the local community?

In 2007 the construction bubble burst, and the market for second properties began to take a downturn. By 2009 the construction industry was feeling the pinch and the lay-offs of construction workers had achieved momentum. In a bid to kickstart the industry and prevent further job losses, the socialist Spanish government lead by Zapatero,  promoted a Plan called Plan E, which provided money to councils to carry out local building projects which would benefit their local communities.
 1.14 million euros was spent landscaping the paseo, creating decked areas, bridges across the sand-dunes and planting shaded gardens. The location of the restaurant was covered with sand, and bamboo and natural twig windbreaks erected in the sand to encourage regeneration, the whole inaugurated in 2010.
Within a year, the twig fencing had collapsed, and weeds and litter sprouted amongst the partially covered remains of the fencing, graffiti disfiguring the board which proudly displayed the amount spent by the government on the paseo.

Although the new landscaping provided an attractive access from the residential zone to the beach, by the summer of 2011, there were signs of damage to the decking and as the economic crisis deepened, many councils struggled to upkeep the new areas the Plan E money had created.
In May 2011, the local council in San Pedro changed from PSOE to PP, and in November of 2011 the National Government followed the same course.
Budgetary cutbacks make it impossible for councils to upkeep all public areas and waer and tear is clearly visible in Spring 2012.

The Ley de Costas, meanwhile, continues to demolish buildings in the public domain throughout Spain.

Images. The images show the location of the restaurant and the houses which were also demolished, on the beach, wiith a clear view of the modern properties which have not yet been demolished. There are also images of the restaurant before demolition, the daughter of the previous owner, the demolition in progress and what is in the location of the restaurant now.