Marbella’s new mayor is also an old mayor, for this is the second term of office for Ángeles Muñoz. Though popular for her positive management and proactive, business-friendly approach to promoting Marbella and its economic interests, she did not achieve an absolute majority during the municipal elections of 2015. A selection of smaller parties led by the PSOE then formed a broad coalition that ran the Marbella and San Pedro Alcántara town halls between 2015 and September 2017, when one of the coalition parties lost confidence in the alliance and withdrew from it.
A vote of no confidence followed and the San Pedro-based party joined Ángeles Muñoz’s PP (Partido Popular) to form a new town hall administration that has since taken office. It all means that Ángeles Muñoz has returned as mayor of Marbella after a two-year absence. While the area continues to thrive with a booming tourist sector and strong demand for property for sale in Marbella, the problems around planning permission for new build projects has become somewhat of a problem in the intervening two years.
A business-friendly approach
It was especially the length of time required to obtain planning permission that was beginning to drive some investors away, and while not all can be blamed on the town hall the PSOE-led administration headed by incumbent mayor José Bernal received much criticism for its handling of the situation. Ángeles Muñoz is known to have a more business-friendly philosophy, and she is expected to improve the situation by streamlining the application process for Marbella. She has, in fact, taken direct responsibility for the vital tourism and property-related portfolios within the town hall, and promises swift improvement.
This has been warmly welcomed by the business community in Marbella, who saw much business move to the surrounding municipalities of Benahavis and Estepona. The mayor has also vowed to improve the management of municipal services and to tidy up some areas neglected by her predecessors, so for Marbella it is a positive development at a time of solid but sustainable growth.
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