Valencia’s infrastructure minister, Vicente Martínez Mus, and the Generalitat’s director general of coastal affairs, Marc Manzana, will meet residents of Babilonia beach in Guardamar on 27 August. The meeting will address a Constitutional Court order that has kept suspended the article of the Valencian Coastal Law used to protect the area from demolition.

The article would allow groups of homes with special ethnological value to receive protection. The court has suspended it while it considers the Spanish Government’s challenge to the regional law, saying its application could interfere with state action to recover the maritime public domain.

The ruling could put the national government in a stronger position to revive plans to demolish around 60 century-old homes on the seafront. Residents and the Generalitat believe legal options remain, and say demolitions carried out before the court rules on the substance of the case could lead to compensation claims if the regional law is ultimately upheld.

Residents will hold a joint swim at Babilonia beach at 7.30pm on Friday, continuing a campaign that has intensified since 2018. They argue the homes form part of a distinctive local way of life, while the state says the buildings contribute to beach erosion and pose increasing risks during storms.