Green Light for 64 Homes Beside Campoamor’s Flood-Hit River

A change to the protected corridor beside the Nacimiento river clears a planning obstacle for a proposed housing development in Orihuela Costa. Residents and environmental groups remain concerned about flood risk.

The Valencian Government has approved an adjustment to its coastal protection map beside the Nacimiento river in Dehesa de Campoamor, removing a key obstacle to plans for 64 terraced homes.

The decision affects plots U-1, U-2 and U-3 in the Campoamor Norte Y-1 sector, near Calle Rosa Montero. It allows the proposed revision of Orihuela’s development plan to proceed towards final approval. The revised scheme would provide 64 homes instead of the 24 previously planned.

The 1.8-hectare site lies within the Sierra Escalona and Dehesa de Campoamor Site of Community Importance, part of the Natura 2000 network. It is also close to the dry bed of the Nacimiento river, which overflowed in the area during the September 2019 DANA storm.

Under the coastal green infrastructure plan known as Pativel, the river corridor connects the shoreline near La Glea beach with inland natural areas towards Sierra Escalona. The newly approved mapping adjustment affects 6,286 square metres. According to the developer, that is less than five per cent of the corridor’s total area of 189,603 square metres, meeting the plan’s conditions for a limited boundary change.

The developer says the redesign will improve the corridor by creating a new green area from land that could otherwise be built on. It argues that changing the type and layout of the housing will allow the development to connect more effectively with the protected space. Its proposal also calls for existing trees and vegetation to be retained and for the buildings to be integrated into the landscape.

Residents and environmental groups have raised a different concern. They say about 5,000 square metres of the development area, potentially accommodating up to 30 of the proposed homes, is associated with flood hazards beside the river. They point to the highest flood-risk classification along the Nacimiento under the regional PATRICOVA plan and to the wider area’s exposure to flooding.

The developer’s supporting documents dispute that the homes would occupy a critical flood-risk area. They cite a report from the Segura River Basin Authority stating that the site lies outside the river’s preferential flow and mapped flood zones. A 2023 regional environmental assessment also found that the area covered by the planning change was not affected by flood danger.

The Rio Nacamiento, the mouth of which is shown in the main image, runs immediately to the east of the proposed properties marked in red

Orihuela City Council has likewise maintained that the proposed housing plots are outside the mapped area for a flood with a 500-year return period. That classification does not mean flooding is impossible, but it underpins the council’s position on the site.

The planning change has a long history. The sector was included in a residential scheme first approved in the 1970s, while a land readjustment project was approved in 2005. Development then stalled following the 2008 property downturn. The current amendment process began in 2015.

In July 2025, regional planning officials issued an unfavourable report on the proposed amendment because the Pativel boundary first needed to be resolved. Orihuela requested that adjustment in January. Regional planning officials, the council and environmental assessment officials subsequently issued favourable reports. A public consultation period was extended after a technical problem with the ministry’s website; the regional government says it received no objections or suggestions.

The file also includes drainage and environmental documents signed by Matías Ruiz before he became Orihuela’s urban planning councillor in 2023. Ruiz has said he withdrew from involvement in the case on taking office and that decisions requiring a political signature were referred to Mayor Pepe Vegara.

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