Lorraine Williamson
The Benidorm Serra Gelada payout is no longer a distant legal headache. It is a hard deadline, a judge’s timetable, and a bill that dwarfs the town’s annual budget.
Benidorm must present a credible payment plan by 10 March, after court decisions left the council facing compensation of more than €350 million linked to land in the Serra Gelada natural area (APR-7), owned by companies tied to the Murcia Puchades family.
How a protected park triggered a compensation fight
The dispute goes back to agreements from the early 2000s over development rights. When Serra Gelada was protected as a natural park, the promised buildability could not be delivered. The landowners pursued compensation for the loss of those rights.
Benidorm tried to stop the payout through further appeals, but the legal route narrowed sharply. In January, El País reported Spain’s Constitutional Court rejected the council’s final attempt to avoid the compensation.
The first funding step: €55 million — and a lot still to cover
So far, the council has moved to secure €55 million through a state financing mechanism (Fondo de Impulso Económico / Local), after a favourable resolution from the Ministry of Finance. The loan is framed as a “first step”, not a solution.
Eldiario.es reported municipal intervention services considered repayment over 12 years viable, and cited an approximate interest rate of around 3.5%.
What Benidorm is considering next
With most of the bill still unfunded, the council has been exploring a menu of options.
Cadena SER reported Benidorm is studying everything from long-term financing (potentially stretching decades), to compensating with municipal land to selling public assets.
Alicante Plaza has also reported on the idea of compensating with municipal land, and the council is opening a technical dialogue process with the landowners.
The mayor, Toni Pérez, has said the aim is to find a workable route that avoids a direct hit to residents, while the opposition argues the town should have acted earlier.
Why residents are watching closely
A payout of this scale tends to reshape decision-making for years: what can be invested, what gets delayed, and how much flexibility a council has when the next crisis lands.
Benidorm’s challenge is to prove to the court it has a credible plan by 10 March — and to convince residents that the town can meet the obligation without hollowing out services.
What happens next in the Serra Gelada case
The next few days will tell us whether Benidorm can agree a phased approach with the landowners — or whether the court pushes the council towards tougher measures to guarantee payment.