ARCHIVED - Paramount theme park project finally laid to rest

The Murcia courts rule that the Alhama park encroached on protected land in the Sierra de Carrascoy

The ambitious plans to build a Paramount Theme Park in Alhama de Murcia were finally laid to rest last week in the High Court of Murcia, where the project to create the development was ruled illegal on the grounds that it encroached upon the regional park of the Sierra de Carrascoy and El Valle.

That the Paramount park project was doomed to failure has been apparent for some time now, despite former regional president Ramón Luis Valcárcel having officially laid the first stone in May 2012, but this court decision rams another nail into its coffin after building work failed to materialize due to a lack of investors interested in financing construction. The ruling upholds the objection lodged by Ecologistas en Acción, who denounced the fact that approximately 21% of the Carrascoy-El Valle park would have been affected by the scheme.

In consequence, the land on which Paramount was to have been built will revert to being non-developable, since the Town Hall’s re-categorization of the area was applicable only to the construction of the theme park and does not contemplate its use for housing or other purposes. In other words, it can be used only for agriculture, and after the speculative optimism and euphoria which surrounded the initial announcement of Paramount’s interest in Alhama it will most likely be occupied by nothing more than fruit trees for the foreseeable future.