The natural dunes on Valdevaqueros beach, which are home to endangered species of plants and animals, may soon become buried in concrete unless public pressure halts the move.

A total of 700,000 square metres of land in the Strait of Gibraltar and Los Alcornocales nature reserves will be taken up with the huge resort and residential complex.

This is in spite of that fact that Spain has over two million empty new properties, which have never been owned and are mostly on the south and east coasts, as well as plummeting home prices due to supply far outstripping demand.

And the dunes are protected by various local, national and international 'green-belt' orders, including being listed as a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Over 1,530 people have already joined the Salvemos Valdevaqueros ('save Valdevaqueros') page on Facebook, and a massive demonstration took place in Tarifa this week.

The protesters are backed by Greenpeace, and say they intend to alert Brussels and the Anti-Corruption Prosecution Board of the matter.

They say they will also inform UNESCO of what their local government plans to do with one of this world heritage organisation's protected biospheres.