Noticia publicada en el periódico inglés THE GUARDIAN
English duke takes 'feudal'
action over Spanish road
Britain's
richest man accused of threatening villagers' livelihoods and environment
Giles
Tremlett, La Garganta, Spain
Saturday September 27, 2003
The Guardian
The
Duke of Westminster, Britain's richest man, is campaigning to divert a planned
motorway away from his 15,000-hectare Spanish hunting estate to a nearby valley
that is rich not just in game and protected species, but in human beings as well.
The
fenced-off estate, in the peaceful pine and oak-covered Sierra Madrona hills of
Ciudad Real province, central Spain, is at the centre of a growing row over the
new motorway.
Campaigners
accuse the duke of behaving like a "feudal lord" and using his
financial and political clout to get Spanish authorities to divert the motorway
to a longer, more expensive route that they say will do lasting damage to the
local economy.
The
duke's Spanish estate manager and his London office refused to comment yesterday.
"The
decision about the route of the motorway is purely a matter for the government
of Spain and we do not think it is appropriate to comment publicly," a
statement from his office said.
Privately,
however, the duke's Spanish managers say they have used only environmental
arguments to dissuade authorities from putting the toll road through land that
is rich in deer, wild boar and red-legged partridge. The estate is also a
nesting and feeding ground for imperial eagles and black vultures.
The
duke gained control of La Garganta some two years ago in what was reported to be
a £2m agreement with the heirs of the previous owner, the Duke of Baviera, to
lease it for 10 years.
Local
people hoped his arrival might mark a change in the management style of an
estate which, under the previous owner, had enraged them by fencing off the
entire 15,000 hectares and blocking what old maps show to be more than a dozen
public roads.
"One
of them is the old Silver Road which was the route from Madrid to Andalucia in
the times of Cervantes," explained Manuel Gil, a local environmental
campaigner.
The
duke, who combines administering his enormous wealth with work for numerous
charities, had been expected to change the estate's reputation for confrontation.
It had already seen clashes between its guards, local villagers and
environmentalists.
Local
conflict
But
when the Spanish government decided it needed a new toll motorway linking Madrid
with Cordoba, locals once again found themselves in conflict with their powerful
neighbour.
Of
two possible routes, local campaigners say that the straightest, cheapest and
most obvious one went alongside a high-speed rail line that already goes through
La Garganta.
"A
barrier has already been formed by the railway line, so a motorway won't make
such a big difference there," argued Mr Gil.
But
the estate hired its own environmental consultants, who claimed La Garganta was
of key ecological importance to the protected imperial eagles, among other
creatures.
To
the surprise and anger of local people, who say the other route going through
land belonging to the village of Fuencaliente has a similar number of eagles,
the duke won.
More
than 1,000 official complaints have since been received from locals, especially
those in Fuencaliente and Villanueva de Cordoba, where land and livelihoods from
tourism and hunting are under threat.
Officials
in Fuencaliente said that when the duke's representatives tried to persuade them
to back the route that cuts through their land, they also offered to pay for
part of the village fiestas.
Guest
Campaigners
also point out the jobs, labourers and hand-outs the estate provides for two
other villages, La Conquista and Brazatortas, who are backing the Fuencaliente
route.
"It
simply is not fair. In one case what is affected is a recreational estate, while
in the other case it is a whole community, its way of life and livelihood,"
said Santiago Canal, a councillor in Fuencaliente.
The
transport minister, Francisco Alvarez-Cascos, is a keen hunter and has been a
guest at the estate. His ministry has declared it chose the longer, more
expensive route purely on environmental grounds after receiving reports showing
La Garganta was a more important refuge for protected species than Fuencaliente.
It
has also said that a final decision on the route had yet to be made and that it
would listen to the arguments of those affected.
Vicente
Luchena, of the Ecologists in Action group, accused the duke of behaving like
"a feudal lord".
"What
he should really be doing is joining us in opposing any attempts to build a toll
motorway that, anyway, is completely unnecessary. That is something we can all
agree on," he said.
Sir
Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, the sixth Duke of Westminster, has an estimated
wealth of over £4bn, including properties in London's Belgravia and Mayfair as
well as large estates in Cheshire, Lancashire and Scotland.
He
is involved with more than 150 charities and recently stood down as president of
the Game Conservancy Trust, a wildlife conservation charity.
He
made a £500,000 donation to help British farmers after the last outbreak of
foot and mouth disease.
His
reputation in Spain, however, is suffering. "His power is as big as his
current account, big enough to prevent a motorway going through his land,"
wrote El Mundo newspaper.