Cartagena Council demands urgent safety upgrades at Villas Caravaning campsite
Inspection reveals serious fire risks and planning violations, prompting new enforcement orders
The long-running saga at the Villas Caravaning campsite in Playa Honda continues to unfold, with Cartagena City Council now stepping up pressure on the site’s owners following a detailed technical inspection. A multidisciplinary team of five municipal technicians has completed a plot-by-plot review of the entire site, revealing significant safety and planning failings.
According to Diego Ortega, Cartagena’s Councillor for Town Planning, the purpose of the inspection was to produce a comprehensive report to serve as the foundation for a series of formal enforcement orders.
These orders have now been issued to the campsite’s managing company, which is required to undertake urgent works to bring the site in line with existing regulations and ensure resident safety.
“The Villas Caravaning campsite, which is a campsite with a camping licence, was found to have installed between 80 and 90 mobile homes without authorisation,” Ortega explained. “In addition, there were installations that put the health and safety of people at risk.”
The inspection revealed several serious deficiencies. Many of the mobile homes and private structures were built using highly combustible materials. The electrical infrastructure, both communal and individual, was found to have major faults. Crucially, there is no fire prevention or protection system that complies with Spain’s Technical Building Code, according to the council inspectors.
These issues, the council warns, pose a real threat to the wellbeing of the approximately 600 residents, many of whom live there year-round, and must be addressed before any part of the site can be deemed safe again. The Town Hall has confirmed that all communal areas remain closed for safety and legal reasons.
“The campsite has been under suspension since 2022,” Ortega said. “We had hoped the company was addressing the issues. But three years on, that has clearly not been the case.”
Citing numerous complaints from nearby residents and the tragic consequences of fires in 2021 and 2022, one of which resulted in the death of a German tourist, the councillor said the council has no choice but to act.
“We cannot allow a repeat of those events,” he said. “Our responsibility is to protect the people who live there.”
The residents of Villas Caravaning took to the streets of Cartagena this Thursday July 10 to protest the continued closure of the campsite’s communal areas.
Organised by local residents’ associations, many demonstrators travelled by bus from La Manga to the council’s administrative offices on Calle San Miguel in Cartagena, where they called for the reopening of sports and leisure facilities and demanded the return of jobs for Capfun employees, whose work has been disrupted by the ongoing enforcement measures.
Juan García, president of one of the residents’ associations, expressed frustration that Councillor Ortega has yet to meet with them about the issues at hand.
The demonstration, which remained peaceful throughout, was supported by representatives from Capfun’s offices in Tarragona and France, as well as several opposition councillors.
However, members of the ruling PP-Vox coalition were notably absent, prompting further criticism from García, who insisted that residents have always acted respectfully and simply want to be heard.
The council has left the door open to the site’s eventual reopening, but only once all safety measures and planning obligations have been properly addressed. For now, however, the pressure is squarely on the campsite’s owners to bring the site up to code or face further legal consequences.
Image: Felipe G. Pagán/Ayuntamiento de Cartagena
Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin and get an email with all the week’s news straight to your inbox
Special offer: Subscribe now for 25% off (36.95 euros for 48 Bulletins)
OR
you can sign up to our FREE weekly roundup!
Read some of our recent bulletins:
Discount Special Offer subscription:
36.95€ for 48 Editor’s Weekly News Roundup bulletins!
Please CLICK THE BUTTON to subscribe.
(List price 3 months 12 Bulletins)
Read more stories from around Spain:
