Orihuela Town Council meeting - 31st March 2009

At the full monthly meeting of the Orihuela Town Council (Pleno) held on Tuesday 31st. March 2009 the following points which affect Orihuela Costa were discussed.

Bye-law for the Beaches of Orihuela Costa

The governing PP party presented a bye-law for the beaches of Orihuela entitled “Ordenanza Municipal de Seguridad en el Uso, Disfrute, Aprovechamiento y Conservación de las Playas del Litoral Oriolano” (bye-law for safety in the use, enjoyment, commercialisation and conservation of the coastal beaches of Orihuela) for its initial approval.

Manuel Gallud, Los Verdes Councillor, proposed a series of improvements to the bye-law as follows.

• On the matter of the chiringuitos and kiosks on the beaches that all the food is to be of the 'fast food' type, cold sandwiches wrapped in plastic, along with chips and other foods inadvisable for good health. Councillor Gallud asked where is the Spanish Mediterranean diet?

Los Verdes understand that this problem is not strictly part of the bye-law but insist that this aspect of the regional cuisine is a powerful advertising incentive for tourists.>

• The Los Verdes Councillor called for more consideration for people with disabilities regarding access to these beaches. Indeed, Los Verdes have identified in our campaign "Dignity for the Disabled," deficiencies in the access ramps on the promenade of Agua Marina and also in other beaches.

The PP Councillor for the Coast, Clr. Aniorte promised as a matter of urgency to modify the access to the Agua Marina promenade and then gradually the other accesses that do not conform to the law.

• Having regard to the construction of the promenade which runs along side the beaches, such as the Playa de la Glea at Campoamor, Los Verdes have found that debris is thrown onto the beach from the promenade, because of the lack of bins along its total route.

Councillor Aniorte has recognized this deficiency and promised the installation of litter bins along the path.

• Los Verdes propose a beach or part of a beach protected from onlookers for naturists and their families to swim. We believe that there is a tourism demand in this regard. In the view of Los Verdes we think it is necessary to regulate this type of activity, which the bye-law does not include, so as to then avoid trouble for the users.

Councillor Aniorte promised to study the issue.

Overall the PP answered positively to the requests of Los Verdes, so despite the shortcomings of the bye-law there was a unanimous vote in favour of this new regulation.

Now the government of the PP has to fully comply with the beach bye-law, and that it is not left in the drawer!

Los Balcones connection to Los Altos.

A further matter of interest to residents of Orihuela Costa that was discussed was the opening to traffic of a connecting road between Los Balcones and Los Altos thereby giving direct access to and from Orihuela Costa.

Three weeks previous a petition signed by a hundred or more residents of the area was presented to the Town Hall in Orihuela Costa requesting that a road connection be opened for the reasons of security and convenience, allowing easier access for the essential public services (police, ambulances and fire brigade).

Los Verdes, in support of the petition, made a request for a connection road to be opened.

Los Verdes reiterated the proposal we made to the 2009 Budget for investment for this work to improve the traffic access on this part of Orihuela Costa.

The PP government promised to reply in writing.

Town Council Meeting - 25.11.2008

At the full monthly meeting of the Orihuela Town Council (Pleno) held on Tuesday 25th November the following points which affect Orihuela Costa were discussed.

The ruling Partido Popular finally adopted the partial plan for the development land within the PAU 7 area of Villa Martin for the building of 2570 new homes including 650 social housing properties. The 14 PP Councillors of course voted in favour of the proposition whereas the 11 Opposition (PSOE, Los Verdes and Centro Liberal Renovador) Councillors voted against it. The contra arguments put forward by the Opposition were that there is no market demand for the additional houses and that there is insufficient water supply available to service them. Los Verdes put forward the additional argument that this is not the correct location to put this number of homes for social housing. It will create a ghetto style environment.

There was an unanimous approval by all Councillors of the Territorial Emergency Plan for Orihuela.This is to cover the procedures and services to be adopted within the Municipality in the case of major emergency situations including natural disasters and the like. With such a large population in Orihuela Costa it is important that there is a clearly defined proceed of coordination of emergency services and contact points to help the citizens at such a time. Los Verdes will ask that an information leaflet is published in Spanish and English for public distribution.

Los Verdes presented a written question to the Council meeting in respect of the possible felling of approximately 42 mediterranean pine trees and 20 palms in the Punta Prima urbanisation adjacent to the Cala Mosca development. The PP Councillor for Urbanisation, Sr. Barberá confirmed to the Council that the existing trees will be respected and that the proposed road system will be adapted to accommodate them. The pressure of the residents and the action of Los Verdes has resulted in the saving of the 40 year old pine trees and the palms.

Los Verdes asked during the verbal question time of the meeting, about the continued delay in the publication of the public information leaflets about the two new Bye-laws in respect of the 'Ownership and Protection of Animals' and the 'Regulation for the cleaning of the Municipality and the Management of Urban Services and Waste' It was pointed out that the PP governing team agreed several months ago that these leaflets would be produced in three languages, Spanish, English and German, but that they have not honoured their words as the leaflets are still not available.

Bye-Law finally available on Orihuela Ayuntamiento Website

The Bye-law controlling the ownership and protection of animals, that has long been waited for is now available for reading and downloading from the Ordenanza section on the Orihuela Ayuntamiento website.

Unfortunately the Town Hall has still not made available the information leaflets about the new law, in English & Spanish, that have been promised although we have been advised that they (the leaflets) should be issued in the next few weeks.