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Things are progressing at our house in Motovun. The structure for the floors has been put in, the roof replaced and the rendering of the facade has begun. We hope it can be ready for use in October.

In March, a commission setup by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Culture set a limit on the number of beds for the Jupiter Group-proposed golf course/development below Motovun. This followed a previous Enviromental Impact Report which came to a similar conclusion. Yet are developers continuing to lobby behind the scenes with direct talks with the Ministers to have these recommendations overturned. And the current indication is that they appear to be succeeding. So, this development has failed government-organized tests twice and yet Jupiter still tries to ‘back-door’ this project using ‘old fashioned’ methods used to influence officials prevalent in a country such as Croatia. There has already been a previous incident regarding this project that the courts deemed illegal. We will have to wait and see.

We bought a house in the beautiful hill-top town of Motovun a year ago. The plan is to begin renovation in early-2008.

For us, the valleys around Motovun are one of the few areas that have not yet suffered from bad development in Croatia. That is why we were upset to hear that an English development company is seeking permission to build a golf resort just a stone’s throw from the town.

We are not against all golf courses - it’s their location and the inappropriate housing development around them that are the main issues.

A resort near Groznjan will begin construction soon - it will reuse abandoned houses for its accommodation - sounds like an excellent idea.

But, the proposed new Motovun resort will include a 600-bed large scale development just across the valley. Motovun has a permanent population of 300. What will be the visual impact?

And, Motovun has become famous for its truffles - what will happen to them when the chemicals used on the courses enter the ground water? Spain is now dealing with the problems of an over-supply of golf courses and their resorts taxing local water supplies.

Of course the developers have discovered that greasing the palms of local politicians helps when dealing with annoying issues such as environment studies.

Please go to Motovun Eco Town and sign up if interested.