Proposed Tarifa resort draws criticism from environmentalists

It’s the beach that people mean when they tell you they’ve just been to Tarifa. It’s the beach where the crystal clear surf is punctured throughout the day with windsurfers and kite surfers. It’s the beach with a tumble-down surf shack to its rear serving beers, snacks and ice creams to parched sun worshippers, and it’s the beach neighboured by a massive sand dune, the result of centuries of that famous wind shuffling the white sand westward – through the faces and flimsy defences of the hardy beachgoers scattered along its curved shoreline…

It is a brilliant beach. A welcome respite from the typically busy, brash and sometimes burning Costa del Sol beaches. A beach where the wind whips up the sea and sand but you don’t mind because it keeps you cool and creates the most awesome conditions for a refreshing dip in the cleanest waters off Spain. It is Valdevaqueros Beach, just to the west of Tarifa, and it is beautiful.

It is also the proposed location for a new, 1,400 room and 350 apartment hotel and resort set to be constructed right behind it – a move that has drawn fierce criticism from local environmentalists and wind and kite surfers. Tarifa authorities have already granted planning permission for the hotel, but apparently did so with a heavy heart.

“It is difficult to strike a balance between conservation and economic development,” decried Tarifa mayor Juan Andres Gil Garcia. “We want to conserve this natural paradise, but when you live here, you see the problem. We desperately need the jobs that this development will provide.”

According to the mayor, the construction and ongoing patronage of the hotel will bring at least 1,000 temporary and permanent jobs to the town. Tarifa currently has an unemployment rate of 40 per cent, so you can see his predicament.

Critics warn, though, that the natural splendour and relative wilderness of the beach already attracts its own mini-economy – something that could be slowly eroded as the cranes move in. A report by German newspaper Deutsche Welle, however, finds that many locals welcome the proposals – echoing the mayor’s claim that ‘those who live there’ see the problem.

One local trader said that she believes the development will bring more work for the locals, while others agree that to move ahead, Tarifa has to embrace progress, just like the resort’s neighbours have done on the Costa del Sol.

If confirmed, the hotel resort will lie some 700 metres from shore, opposite the narrow track that is currently used by barefooted tourists strolling their way to the beach. The development would no doubt disrupt this paradise setting, something the developers are keen to address. They stress that the hotel will follow an eco-friendly design, even though more concrete plans have not yet been made available to the public.

The president of local environment pressure group Ecologists in Action told Deutsche Welle that he would sign a petition to block the development, adding that the planned development of Valdevaqueros beach was further proof of an ongoing trend in Spain to destroy the country’s natural assets. “I’ve been an ecologist and activist for 27 years and during that time, I’ve seen Spain reclassify protected natural parks, one by one, into land for development,” he said.

Local activists have taken their claim to the European Union, while others have urged the mayor and the hotel’s developers to consider other sites, such as closer to Tarifa town centre, with the offer of free bike rides out to the beach included in hotel room rates.

It may not get that far. The Andalusian government has ordered a freeze on waterfront development plans for the time being as the autonomous government sifts through its portfolio of unfinished, empty and unsold property developments. As Spain’s economy improves, and more and more properties are sold, this could ironically loosen the government’s hold on planning permission, enabling the hotel’s developers to go ahead with its construction after all…