The hotel with attached golf course promises a luxurious “refuge in the middle of nature” as if nothing had happened.

But the "Marbella of Extremadura" could turn into a huge heap of rubble.

After a legal battle that has lasted almost 15 years, the Spanish Supreme Court has ruled that the Marina Isla de Valdecañas, built on an island in the middle of the reservoir of the same name, must disappear completely.

For the Spanish nature conservationists, the verdict is a "victory for the environment and the law" with a signal effect, because the luxury resort in the interior of the country was built in a nature and bird sanctuary.

In other tourism projects in Spain in the past, facts were often created out of concrete without taking nature into account.

Hans Christian Roessler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb based in Madrid.

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For the owners and the government of the sparsely populated region, which is one of the poorest in Spain, the verdict is a fiasco.

The holiday settlement is 135 hectares in size.

In addition to the four-star hotel, there are more than 185 chalets, a yacht club and an artificial beach.

Demolition could take as long as construction.

Because not only the buildings should disappear, but also the entire infrastructure of a small town - including sewers, roads and a sewage treatment plant.

The cost to the regional government is estimated at more than 140 million euros.

Compensation for the owners, many of whom had bought the land in good faith before the area was protected, could amount to more than a hundred million euros.

Rural exodus that has been going on for years

Almost two years ago, the Supreme Court of the Extremadura region finally stopped further construction, which had planned a total of more than 500 holiday apartments and a second hotel.

However, a complete demolition was "materially impossible", it said in the judgment with a view to the costs at the time.

According to the judges, the buildings that have already been erected do not affect the environment.

Spain's Supreme Court has yet to give its verdict, but the regional government is considering taking the case to the Constitutional Court, while owners could turn to the European courts.

That could take years, like at Cabo de Gata in Andalucia.

The Hotel El Algarrobico has been waiting there for demolition for almost 20 years.

It is in a protected area and was never allowed to start operations.

At the Valdecañas reservoir, the neighbors now fear for their jobs in an area where there are hardly any career alternatives for them.

Many places in Extremadura are literally dying out because of the rural exodus that has been going on for years.

But new major projects are difficult, because around 40 percent of the area of ​​the agricultural region is under protection.

The Spanish newspaper "El País" pointed out the deterrent effect of the court decision at the weekend.

"From now on there will be no developer or administration in Spain that does not think of Valdecañas before signing a project."