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Date Published: 11/04/2025

Illegal homes and unsafe toilets taped off at Villas Caravaning campsite in Cartagena

The city council has acted to halt what it considers “unauthorised activity” and to ensure user safety, as well as to prevent the notorious campsite covertly turning into a residential area

Cartagena City Council has ordered the immediate sealing of toilet and shower blocks, along with 81 illegally installed dwellings, at the Villas Caravaning campsite near Playa Honda, on the shores of the southern Mar Menor.

The move follows safety inspections from the council that found the sanitary facilities at the site to be in a state of ruin, posing a “serious risk to users”.

The council’s technical team confirmed that the prefabricated homes had been installed without the necessary permits, despite a formal suspension of activity at the site dating back to May 2022. A new disciplinary file has been opened, and the campsite’s operator, the awkwardly spelled Caravanings Costa Cálida S.L., has once again been reminded of its legal obligation to cease all activity at the complex.

The site’s closure was originally decreed due to multiple safety concerns revealed after two serious fires in 2021 and 2022 that even cost one man his life. Reports by the municipal fire service and planning authorities at the time highlighted serious deficiencies in the electrical system, poor emergency access, insufficient fire protection, and substandard water and sanitation infrastructure.

Despite these warnings and the ongoing ban, the campsite operator has continued to develop the site, including connecting the new homes to water and wastewater systems. There are now further investigations underway into possible illegal connections to gas and sewage networks made without oversight or approval.

The most recent inspection confirmed that several communal toilet blocks are structurally unsound and unusable. These have now been sealed, although one module has been deemed safe and will remain in use.

The campsite originally received an operating licence in 1985 under different ownership. The current use of the land, however, does not comply with the terms of that licence. An application for a new licence, submitted in 2020, was refused two years later, prompting legal action by the company which is still ongoing.

Cartagena city council has emphasised that these measures are intended to safeguard public safety and prevent the illegal transformation of land which is currently designated for tourism and public purposes into a permanent residential zone where people live on a fixed basis illegally.

Images: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena

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