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Let's Discover Barranco Blanco,
nature wonderland near Alhaurín el Grande, Andalucia, in Southern Spain

Barranco Blanco (which means white precipice or white ravine) is a superb valley of cork oaks and pine groves, on the east side of the Sierra Alpujata, within the municipality of Alhaurin el Grande in the autonomous region of Andalucía. For the technically minded it lies approximately 36.61 degrees north and -4.75 degrees west.  Leave the the MA3303 Mijas to Coin road at km4 and drive down about 3 kilometres to 36.61 degrees north, -4.73 degrees west where you can leave your car by a small bridge over the Rio Fuengirola which has its source just 3 or 4 kilometres from here (36.610 N, -4.775 W). 

The wooded hills are full of wildlife including wild boars. The valley, which can not be seen from the main road, is used by local people and tourists for mountain biking, horse riding, walking, swimming in the river and picnicking. It is a genuinely exquisite location.

This beautiful place is venerable.  Property developers have tried to build here.  The threat is currently (Sep. 2008) contained, as explained below, but a fresh planning application may be made in the future.  I had to think long and hard before disclosing the exact location of this fragile ecosystem.  Already some  thoughtless, empty headed visitors are neglecting to take their rubbish home.  More publicity will inevitably lead to more visitors and to more disturbance of the wildlife, I do know that.  But I also know that this place needs more friends.  Please be a friend to Barranco Blanco but please also tread lightly upon her rocky surface, take nothing but very beautiful photographs and leave nothing but your footprints. 

Barranco Blanco is an ecological corridor that connects several natural spaces including the Sierra Alpujata, Sierra Blanquilla de Coín, Sierra de Mijas, and the fluvial network of Río Las Pasadas, Río Ojén, and Río Fuengirola. It is used by many different species of fauna and flora, connecting their different populations.  Were these different animal and plant populations to become isolated from each other, they would no longer be viable.  (On some maps you will see 'Río Alaminos de Las Pasadas' instead of just 'Río Las Pasadas').

The Sierra Alpujata was once an important mining area. It was mined for its deposits of iron, nickel, lead, talc, magnetite, chromitite and dunite. Minerals were transported to the coast by a tramway of which the towers can still be seen.

This section of the Rio Fuengirola has been declared a Lugare de Interés Comunitario (LIC) by the European Union. It is home to 21 species of endemic or protected plants including the rare Galium viridiflorum, 2 species of rare insects including the Orange-Spotted Emerald dragonfly (Oxygastra curtisii), 5 species of fish such as the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) and two ray-finned fish species (Squalius pyrenaicus and Chondrostoma willkommii), 6 species of amphibians including a rare Fire Salamander subspecies (Salamandra salamandra longirostris), 9 species of reptiles including Lataste's viper (Vipera latastei) and the Common Chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon), 21 species of mammals including the Wild Cat (Felis sylvestris), and 39 species of birds including Bonelli's Eagle (Hieraaetus fasciatus). The proposed new houses and gardens would have come within about 30 meters of the margin of the Alamino River which is home to otters (Lutra lutra).  This particular species is protected in Annex II and IV of the Directive 92/43/CEE and vulnerable to extinction in Andalusian.

The pressure groups Ecologistas en Acción (Ecologists in Action), La Plataforma Ciudadana en Defensa del Territorio de Alhaurino (the Citizen Platform in Defence of the Territory of Alhaurín) and Protect The Countryside / Proteja El Campo have recently been campaigning against proposals to construct a new 'macro-urbanisation' in the area.  By writing to the provincial delegations of the Environment and Public Works of Andalusia, these three groups demanded the rejection of this new city-planning project which threatened this zone of high ecological value.

Thanks to them, Barranco Blanco has now been saved from development, for the moment.  But we need to stay vigilant.  In mid September 2008 the project was officially declared ‘non viable’ by the environmental department.  This formally brought an end to a long campaign to stop the developer, Ondobide S.A. of Puerto Banus from building in the area. The junta’s report recognises the concerns of conservationists and local people and points out that the project would have caused a huge negative visual impact due to the excavation necessary to build on the steep sided hills.

Of course just because they have stopped the Plan Parcial presented by Ondobide, there is nothing to stop them or another developer applying again with a new Plan Parcial because the land is still zoned as urbanizable (urban).  However any new submission would have to meet the new tougher laws introduced in 2007. Indeed another proposal was submitted and in September 2009 the Junta de Andalucia once again rejected the application.

The Plan of Land in the Urban Agglomeration of Malaga (POTAUM) is the development plan for the whole of Málaga province for the next ten years.  It would usually consist of the combined inputs of all the development plans for the next ten years submitted by each Town Council in Málaga province.  Since Alhaurín el Grande, along with many other Town Halls, failed to submit a plan, the Junta de Andalucía published their own.  This was based on previous plans dating from either 1986 or 1994 in most cases.  The Town Hall's and the public were given 60-90 days to object. 

In February 2008 (within the time limit) PECTA, the residents of Barranco Blanco and Ecologistas en Acción, submitted objections to this draft POTAUM. They objected because Barranco Blanco was zoned as urbanizable (urban or buildable) land.  They are asking the Junta de Andalucia to re-zone Barranco Blanco and make it protected land.  The lowest level of this protection, and the level most likely to be agreed to, is to convert it to a Parque Periurbano (a park for the people of Alhaurín). 

If you want to read the full report from the Junta de Andalucia on Barranco Blanco (in Spanish), you can see it here - http://www.pecta.org/id2.html

The urbanisation proposed by Ondobide SA would have contaminated this delicate fluvial system with organic matter, chemical compounds, heavy metals, etc. which would have inevitably affected fish, mammals, amphibians and aquatic reptiles, many of which are protected by law like the otter.

The otters would have been disturbed by the continuous human presence, it is unlikely they could have survived in the area for long.  The same thing can be seen happening now in the river basin of the Ojén River.  You may well ask how local government officials could ever have considered permitting such a disastrous development. 

One answer may be found in two Olive Press reports titled "Nineteen Held in Málaga Corruption Crackdown" and "Cash for Permits Scandal Deepens" where they point out that "cash payments in return for favours have come to light during bribery and corruption investigations in Alhaurin el Grande".  Apparently the PP mayor, Juan Martin Seron and his wife, are alleged to have taken hundreds of thousands of euros in bribes in return for giving developers the green light for projects.  It is claimed that the couple used a separate company, Martin y Santos SL, to launder the money.  The mayor, planning boss Gregorio Guerra and 14 local businessmen have been charged with corruption and if found guilty could face up to 20 years behind bars.  So we all owe a lot of thanks to these pressure groups for standing up to the Town Hall officials.  Also please give your support to Protect The Countryside / Proteja El Campo - http://www.protejaelcampo.org/2.html  who are working hard to protect this and other vulnerable parts of Alhaurin el Grande from overdevelopment.