Marbella gives the green light for extension work to La Cañada shopping centre

La Cañada has become the largest shopping centre in Malaga province and, after more than a decade of urban planning challenges, yesterday the ruling councillors at Marbella town hall granted planning permission for the extension of the retail space by more than 20,000 square metres. The same executive team had also approved two weeks prior to this an increase in parking spaces in a new underground car park.

Regarding the planned expansion project, which would increase the retail space from 100,000 to 120,000 square metres, municipal government spokesperson Félix Romero stated that "the building permit has been approved to the tune of 12 million euros, which means that 500,000 euros will be raised from associated tax revenue" and will be paid into municipal coffers. The councillor also highlighted the fact that this means "an expansion of the municipality's commercial offering".

Thus, once this procedure has been completed, the company will be able to start the build, which will be located specifically in the area adjacent to the FNAC entrance, although the specific start date for this project remains unkown.

Marbella's mayor stressed that this proposal "is being reviewed by civil servants and technical experts to approve the proposal, which is then submitted to the local council's executive team, done within all legal and technical parameters to ensure there are no problems."

Urban planning conflict

La Cañada shopping centre has been in existence for 30 years. It was built in three successive phases during the years when the Gil party was at the helm of the town hall, two of them on the fringes of the regulations at the time and with municipal licences that did not comply with the law. The shopping centre has since been fighting a battle for its urban presence to be normalised and made fully legal. These struggles have been met over the years with conflicting interpretations as to what the cost of this regularisation should be.

In 2019, a change in urban planning regulations made it possible to expand the space that La Cañada shopping centre had reserved for the Irish brand Primark, Europe's leading low-cost clothing retailer. The progress of the project, which was expected to create 200 jobs, was blocked when Marbella town hall refused the building permit request, taking the view that the extension did not comply with the general urban development plan (PGOU) in force at the time, that of 2010, which would be annulled a year later. The shopping centre started the building work without the licence being granted, so the town hall's planning department decreed the stoppage and a fine for the company.

The management company appealed to the courts on the grounds that the surface area of the shopping centre already permitted had not been filled and that it therefore had the right to build the mezzanine level within that space, but the judges eventually ruled in favour of the council.

Finally, Marbella town hall approved a modification to the urban planning regulations of the PGOU then in force, the one from 1986, which allows increases in the built surface area that, without altering the external configuration of the buildings, facilitate their better use. In the near future, the PGOM and the POU documents will be those that govern town planning.