The Generalitat Valenciana has given final approval to reclassify a 10,524 square metre plot in Orihuela Costa, in the O-1 Las Filipinas sector, from private sports facilities to residential use. The Territorial Commission for Urban Planning voted unanimously to approve the modification, which allows a maximum of 45 dwellings on 9,059.67 m2 and also allocates 1,244.36 m2 for roads, 565 m2 of green space and 436 m2 for a multi-use facility.

Developer Santa Cruz Urbana first requested a change in 2015 and renewed the application in 2018, arguing the land had not been used for the intended sports facilities and had become an informal dumping ground. The strategic environmental report (IATE) was favourable in 2020 and its validity was extended in 2024 until 19 November 2026. The proposal underwent public participation in May 2024 and February 2025 with no recorded objections, and the council plenary granted provisional approval in July 2025; there is a two-month period to lodge an appeal before the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community.

The reclassification is allowed under the Valencian urban planning law (LOTUP). The resolution requires the developer to cede five per cent of the additional development rights to the municipality and to allocate ten per cent of the increased residential buildability to promoted public housing. Residents continue to complain that decades of rapid building have not been matched by promised infrastructure and services, despite plots being set aside in the 1990 general plan for public and private facilities.