The Carboneras town council in Almería has formally revoked the building permit granted in 2003 for the El Algarrobico hotel, a long-standing symbol of coastal development controversy in Spain. The decision came during a tense extraordinary session, after the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Andalucía (TSJA) ordered the council to annul the permit within 20 days following years of postponements and legal wrangling.
The move is a critical step toward demolishing the hotel, which stands within the protected Cabo de Gata-Níjar area. In 2021, the TSJA ruled that the building could not legally be demolished while the original permit remained valid. The council's latest action responds to mounting judicial pressure and a recent advisory from the Consejo Consultivo de Andalucía, which declared the municipal authorization null and void. Annulment of the permit, but, is not a final demolition order: restoring legality requires further administrative and legal steps.
The next phase came into focus on 1 October 2026, when Rocío Díaz, Andalucía’s regional minister for development, territorial planning and housing, said El Algarrobico had “finally entered the path to demolition with all guarantees.” Díaz said the Junta de Andalucía had begun a procedure to restore legality and called for coordinated action with the Spanish Government. Her statement casts the council’s decision as one step in an ongoing process, not the start of immediate demolition works.
Mayor Salvador Hernández (Ciudadanos), visibly moved, closed the heated session by expressing hope that the long-running dispute over El Algarrobico would soon end. But the process is far from over. Azata del Sol, the developer behind the hotel, now has two months to challenge the council's decision in the Almería courts and could later appeal to the TSJA. Greenpeace lawyer José Ignacio Domínguez said the legal battle could continue for another five years.
The vote exposed deep divisions within the local government. Seven councillors present supported the annulment, while four others left the chamber before the vote, including two from the PSOE. A non-affiliated former mayor and a former PP councillor were also among those who walked out. The socialist group was split: three of its six members backed the review and one was absent. PSOE spokesperson José Luis Amérigo said the June 17 session was postponed because technical and legal reports were missing. He argued that the reports were impressive to assess the economic and urban-planning consequences for the municipality. He maintained that the current session did not provide these documents, called the process irregular and said that justified the group's walkout. Other absent councillors raised similar concerns.
The council's decision follows years of delays and repeated ultimatums from the TSJA, which has consistently pressed Carboneras officials to address the legality of the hotel permit. A recent advisory opinion from the Consejo Consultivo de Andalucía sped up the process, but the June 17 vote was unexpectedly postponed after PSOE councillors intervened. Greenpeace urged the TSJA to enforce compliance, as did the Junta de Andalucía and the Ministry for Ecological Transition. They suggested the court could intervene directly if the council failed to act. The dispute’s judicial record includes proceedings on the permit’s validity and later questions about enforcement. Those matters are legally distinct from the Junta’s current administrative process to restore legality.
Legal disputes over controversial coastal developments are not unique to Andalusia. In a comparable case, the Galician High Court recently overturned the annulment of building licenses for luxury villas in Vigo, citing procedural irregularities and upholding the original municipal decision. For more on how Spanish courts are handling similar urban-planning conflicts, see this report: Galician court backs municipal license for Cabo Estai villas after legal challenge.
The El Algarrobico case has become a national reference point in debates over the limits of municipal authority in Spain, including urban planning and environmental protection. The coming legal appeals will determine the hotel's fate and could set a precedent for future disputes involving protected coastal areas and contested development projects. The next steps depend on whether Azata del Sol pursues further legal action and how the courts respond to the council's latest move.
