Rolling hills, vast green spaces, and panoramic views of the Mediterranean – the El Faro estate was supposed to offer a slice of Spanish paradise for families desperate to escape dreary Britain.
But instead of settling in for a dream break on the Costa Blanca, they have been greeted with a holiday nightmare.
Where they were once awoken by bird song and the slow crashing of waves onto nearby cliffs, now it is the roar of JCBs, the crash of dirt and the hollering of Spanish workmen.
Dave Marshall, who has owned his cliffside property for 25 years, peered out of his window one morning expecting to see his usual mountain view.
‘One day we turned up and there’s an earth mover outside the back of the patio.
Its decimated the back of lovely green land its now piles of rubble,’ Mr Marshall told the Daily Mail.
‘I’m looking at the start of a construction site.’
Since then, the work has been relentless, keeping residents up all night and even causing the properties to vibrate.
Mr Marshall added: ‘Its gone from an absolutely panoramic view of the sea and the mountains to a potential view of someone looking in at you while you’re on the patio.
‘Its our holiday place, we go two or three times a year. Its been a family place we’ve had it for 25 years the kids grew up there we’ve always loved it.
Pictured: The exterior of one of the gorgeous properties on the El Faro estate
Pictured: Dug up ground and JCB diggers on what was vast green land
Pictured: One of the properties on the estate, which was designed in the 80s as a speculative holiday home development
Pictured: The land before it was dug up – the work has been relentless keeping residents up all night
‘If the building goes ahead we would have to consider selling.
‘Its obviously going to have a massive impact on the value of our property, I would have kept it forever but its not the same.’
The Spanish estate, Gran Alicante, was designed in the 80s as a holiday home development, all the plots have been sold off except for a portion of land at the highest point of the cliff, which was meant to be a hotel.
However, residents claim they were assured by Santa Pola council when they bought their homes that the land next door would remain untouched and the hotel would not be developed.
Now they say the council has blindsided them by allowing what is believed to be a huge apart-hotel – self-catering flats that have access to hotel facilities – to be built on the site.
‘The monstrosity that they’re proposing is flats, its got a planning consent for what was a hotel. This is just overdevelopment on an epic scale,’ Mr Marshall said.
When the community found out about the development they had just 10 days to make a formal complaint.
They have accused the council of trying to go through the back door, suggesting they are actually building a huge apartment complex under the guise of an apart-hotel so that it is in-line with the original planning permission.
Pictured: One of the patios overlooking the Mediterranean on the residential development
Pictured: Dave Marshall, who has owned his cliffside property for 25 years
Pictured: The land being prepared for what residents believe is an apart-hotel
Archie Madden, who has owned his holiday home since 2019, said: ‘One of the things we discovered about this hotel is, it claimed to be a four-star hotel with 98 rooms, which would be far too expensive to run.
‘Then we worked out it’s not a hotel it’s a block of holiday apartments pretending to be a hotel.
‘We found buried away in the planning application papers there’s a requisition for 98 cookers, 98 extractor fans, 98 fitted kitchens. These are all self-contained apartments.’
The residents have rallied together and referred the matter to the public prosecutors office in the local city – claiming that there is no planning permission for the development.
Yet they believe the council are insistent on going ahead with the building.
Mr Madden added: ‘At the end of August suddenly all this heavy machinery came on site.
‘From six in the morning they are hammering and using pneumatic drills until seven at night.
‘It’s louder inside the houses than out because it comes up in the structure of the houses.
Pictured: Archie Madden, who has owned his holiday home since 2019
Pictured: A view from one of the residents’ patios – the rolling hills have since been overshadowed by a huge JCB digger
‘All my neighbours are having to live with it, it’s driving them literally mad.
‘Why are they tearing our lives up destroying this beautiful hillside?
‘They’ve not just cleared the surface, they’re digging and hammering away.
‘Its absolutely clear to me that this council are absolutely terrified of the potential legal or financial consequences if they stand in the way of this big developer building this hotel.
‘Our view is the council are not being fair with us, they have been misleading, we think they know perfectly well there is actually no current planning permission for this site.
‘They also know this isn’t a hotel, hotels do not consist entirely of self-catering flats that is an apartment block.
‘But they are determined this project is going to go ahead.’
Santa Pola council have been contacted for comment.
