Torrevieja approves demolition project for illegal roundabout built two decades ago

Torrevieja Town Council has approved the project to remove the illegal roundabout constructed in 2006 on Avenida de Las Cortes Valencianas, opposite IES Las Lagunas. The resolution was signed on 21 September 2026 by the delegate councillor for Urban Management, Accessibility, and Urban Services, Sandra Sánchez, giving approval to the project submitted by CM Proyectos e Instalaciones 2017 SL through a minor contract.

The resolution comes exactly 20 years after the Town Council permitted Jost, the developer of sector 13-A-3, to build the infrastructure on public land. This was done to avoid using land from the housing development for that purpose and to provide access to the commercial zone. It also comes ten years after an initial contract was launched to remove it. Numerous accidents have occurred since it was brought into service.

The roundabout features very reduced dimensions for the four lanes of the avenue. It is raised a couple of metres above the grade of the educational centre and narrows the institute’s service lane. Indicative of the poor safety of the roundabout, it features a double guardrail in the direction towards the centre of Torrevieja, which has tilted due to vehicle impacts. In one of the accidents caused by the roundabout, a vehicle ended up inside the premises of the secondary school itself.

The cost of demolishing the illegal roundabout located on Avenida de Las Cortes Valencianas in Torrevieja was estimated at 148,000€ almost ten years ago, in 2017. The Town Council was ordered to pay the cost of the demolition even though the infrastructure was carried out illegally by a developer. A judge ruled that it was the local administration that allowed its construction, saving the sector developer the land that had to be incorporated to build the access point.

It was in 2012, six years after its construction, when an urban planning discipline file was opened regarding the illegality of the infrastructure, and the company that executed it filed a court action against the Town Council. The outcome was that the court identified the Town Council as the possessor and owner during all these years because an official handover took place in 2006, making it responsible for restoring urban planning legality. Over all these years, road safety in the surroundings of the avenue has improved noticeably to prevent vehicles from driving at excessive speeds along that stretch. The areas surrounding the roundabout itself, carpeted with artificial grass and just a few metres from the road, are used by students from the educational centre.

The project was frozen since 2019. In that year, using the Town Council’s own resources, the technical project outlining the procedure to eliminate the road infrastructure was carried out, and the file to contract the demolition works was initiated. On the Public Sector Contracting Portal, the procedure remained frozen at the tender announcement stage from June 2019 without any subsequent file appearing. According to sources from the Partido Popular governing team, a file was produced eventually because the auditor raised an objection to the tender, as public sector contracting legislation changed in that same financial year and the procedure could no longer be carried out via a negotiated contract without publicity.

The resolution represents an exercise in consistency so that the Town Council itself complies with the legislation it demands daily from individuals and companies through Urban Planning services. This includes opening urban discipline files for illegal and unlicensed works, coercive fines, and demolition orders for actions ranging from minor interventions, such as installing air conditioning units on facades, to larger operations, such as constructing complete buildings without the mandatory major work licence.