The IU, who presented this complaint before the Inspección de Trabajo de Granada on the 18th of January, pointed out that the Junta de Andalucia awarded the construction-project contract to Ferrovial S.L., with work beginning last October on the C.P. Madrigal y Padial.. They say they warned the construction company that they are violating article 35 of the workers’ statutes and that they would be reported for it.

According to this political party, builders are working 60 to 70 hour weeks without any extra pay for the extra hours, nor days off in lieu, for a monthly salary of 800 euros. It in the opinion of the IU, the construction company managed to get the contract because they knocked down the cost of the man hours and stand to gain huge profits from it.

Accordingly, the IU are demanding to know where the mechanisms are within the Regional Education Board and the Regional Government to prevent this kind of exploitation..

Upon receiving notification of this report, the Provincial Board for Employment for the Junta have opened up an investigation.

(News: Velez Benaudalla, Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

The project came into being in 2006 and entailed the ‘urbanizing’ of 65,544 sq/m of land in front of the gasoline station at the entrance to La Herradura. “It’s an area that has no building-development problems and enjoys excellent views,” explained Sr. Tejero.

“The disastrous project plans that the previous administration sent to the Junta resulted in them all being sent back,” he complained, adding, “on each occasion the Junta pointed out the multiple defects within the paperwork which were to be rectified. However, the project plans were just simply resent again in an incomplete state or with legal irregularities.”

Sr. Tejero pointed out that on the 20th of December 2010 the Junta sent another letter ‘completely fed up’ with having to ask for the project plans to be submitted correctly, with the final result that Obras Publicas suspended the project until the paperwork was received in the correct format and content.

“Now,” Sr. Tejero criticises, “they (the CA) has presented the project plan again before the Town Council for approval, taking no notice of the rectifications demanded by the Junta.”

In the IU press release received by the Seaside Gazette, the party Spokesman laments that this and other viable projects that represent much needed jobs for locals, have been so mishandled by the Sr. Benavides last administration.

(News: Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

The Mayor, Carlos Rojas, said, “Casa Garach is an emblematic building, situated in the centre of Motril, which is in an abandoned state, serving as a constant source of worry for the Council.”

Until now, investors interested in building a hotel in the centre of the town have always run up against a lack of suitable building plots designated as ‘for hotel use only,’ which has forced them to fall back on plots in residential areas, which is much more expensive.

“Thanks to the building work that we have carried out in Casa Garach, we have been able to stabilize the structure and protect the building in general. Now, the challenge is to modify the existing PGOU so that it can be categorized as suitable for a town centre hotel,” explained Sr Rojas.

He went on to point out that their objective has been to preserve the facade, as well as other protected elements in the structure so that the building would have a future as part of Motril’s cultural heritage.

However, not everybody sees it that way, as the left-wing, opposition party, the IU, have criticised the venture, fearing that this heritage building will pass into private hands, instead of belonging to the town.

“This is just another example of public land ending up in private hands, which is all the worse for the fact 300,000 euros of public money has been spent on it,” reads a statement from the IU, adding, that the only beneficiary will be the private company that takes it over.

The IU statement considers that it is unnecessary to create more hotels in the centre of town as Playa Granada already has plenty of them. The IU fears that the governing conservative party is in cahoots with a private company.

The Town Hall has responded to these comments, lamenting that the IU is ‘against creating employment and backing tourism in Motril.’

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

There is a precedent for this kind of motion: in Santa Fe the minority parties banded together and forced the Mayor of that town to take a pay cut. However, it is unlikely to prosper here as the minor parties do not count on enough council votes against the major parties who will vote against.

The proposal, which will be presented as a motion at the next plenary meeting of the Town Council on the 13ths of December, calls for the Mayoress to take a five-percent cut, so as to ‘set an example.’

The motion will also call for the Mayoress to do something about ex-Mayor, Juan Carlos Benavides’s salary as he has a salary that is almost 20% greater than hers, even though he is a mere councillor. They Mayoress earns 56,000 and Sr. Benavides earns, according to his tax declarations, 66,447.97 euros annually.

The reason for this anomaly is that councillor’s wages are calculated on the salary that they had to give up to become one. Sr. Benavides, whose profession is medicine; he is a G.P., even though he has been a mayor most of his medical career, would be entitled to this 66,000-euro salary as a doctor. However, according to the IU councillor, only if he occupied a department head position and worked shifts etc. This sum is based on a report that said he could earn that much if he were to dedicate his time to his medical profession – what it didn’t say is that he would earn it.

But the fact of the matter is that in these times of austerity, such salaries are completely out of step with what our politicians are asking – no, ‘telling’ – the average person what he must accept.

According to information supplied by Fermin Tejero, every councillor that receives a salary for being such earns 41,000 euros per annum, which coupled with the corresponding Social Security payments that the Town Hall must pay, ascends to 53,000 euros. At present the previous mayor’s party has three salary-earning councillors (amongst them Sr. Benavides with his controversial salary), the PSOE has one, the governing PP has six, and their allies, the PA has two.

The above arrangement was the agreement struck at the beginning of the 4-year mandate, points out PSOE leader, Francisco Prados, who claims that the IU motion is pure demagoguery. He says that any changes must be made through consensus.

Editorial Analysis: There are not enough doctors or teachers but an abundance of politicians, yet politicians instead of cutting back on their own numbers and salaries, prefer to make cuts in health and education.

This is painfully obvious to the man on the street, so it would not be unreasonable to draw the conclusion that most would not consider the call for cuts to politicians salaries as Demagoguery and that the only time their has been consensus amongst our politicians over wages has been when one of their number has proposed a pay increase.

He set up an experimental farm on which today the Carambolo Campsite stands, just off the N-340, a little further on from the Los Pinos roundabout. This pioneering German agriculturist set up a plantation, building the first chalet in the province – one that architects at the University of Granada would come down to study. The farm had hot & cold running water; something that was unheard of in Almuñécar at the time.

Eventually, a team of left-leaning ecologists took over the installations, preserving all that they could and setting up a campsite in the grounds, so that people could enjoy this little corner, that not only has some of the oldest subtropical trees in the province, but is also host to a chameleon colony.

Then they come up against a rapidly expanding Almuñécar, with a Mayor, according to one of the partners, IU spokesman, Fermin Tejero, who had other ideas for the area. What happened from there on in has been a series of inspections, closures and court cases.

Surprisingly, in a town that is littered with illegal constructions, or if not illegal, of very dubious legality, the camp site was targeted for its storeroom and classroom, which according to the Town Hall under the previous administration, did not have the correct building licence, even though the funds used for the classroom had been given for that task by the Junta de Andalucia.

When the new Mayoress came to power, she gave permission for the campsite to reopen its doors, but according to the CA, which held power in Almuñécar under Juan Carlos Benavides, this municipal decree came two days after receiving notification from the law courts that an appeal by the campsite owners had been rejected by the TSJA; i.e., the regional high court.

Benavides had passed a motion (so to speak), in a plenary meeting of the council to serve a demolition order on the offending structures on the 28th of October, 2010. The owners had appealed before the TSJA and now the said high court has backed Benavides’s demolition order.

The ex-Mayor’s party considers that the new Mayor’s lenience is part of a political accord between her party, the PP and Fermin Tejero’s IU. He pointed out that the court decision had come through at the very end of July and law courts are practically closed during August so on the 1st of September they re-appealed, hence in their opinion, the affair is still ongoing.

Who knows? But one thing is for sure, go visit this delightful corner whilst you can!

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

The IU not only considers it to be dirty manoeuvring, but also says that it is out-right cowardly, as nobody had the ‘guts’ to sign the letter.

Five workers had previously been unfairly dismissed from their jobs within the town hall by the ex-Mayor, Juan Carlos Benavides. The affair was taken to court and a judge ordered their readmission to their previously held posts.

When we say that the letter was unsigned, it would be more accurate to say it was ‘issued by a fictitious person,’ as the missive was written by an ‘Independent Candidate for Public Functionaries,’ which subsequent investigation has shown not to exist. Furthermore, the letter has no signature or  DNI (personal ID number), which is obligatory on such official documents.

Lastly, the local leader of the IU, Fermin Tejero, criticises the Delegacion del Gobierno for allowing undue ‘echoing of the content’ of an anonymous document. He said that he was surprised by the speed with which the Government reacted when much more controversial cases, deserved of investigation, were archived out of hand.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

The IU claimed that the Town Hall had based its glowing assessment on the proposed marina project upon an unsigned university report; i.e., a document that nobody had seen fit to back with their name and reputation. To this observation, the Mayor, Carlos Rojas, pointed out that the said report was elaborated by the Centro Andaluz de Medio Ambiente, and signed by the university professor, Miguel Ángel Losada Rodríguez.

The said academic gentleman found that the marina “produced no impact upon the Charca de Suarez wetlands. Furthermore, Professor Losada considered that the marina would help regenerate the beach area, namely Playa Granada.

The Mayor concludes his riposte by saying that it is very sad that people are criticising a project that will improve the local economy: “It is very sad that they oppose the growth of our town.”

Furthermore, he considers that the project will turn Motril into a reference point for tourism in Andalucia, as it is a new concept for pleasure ports and more modern than those already existing.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Unfortunately, the service only operates three days a months (Thursdays) and only by prior appointment. In the consideration of the Izquierda Unida political party this arrangement is insufficient, “owing to the high demand for this service, above all in the summer when the population increases dramatically, forcing consumers to wait long periods of time for their complaints to be attended to.”

The Spokesman for this political party gives as an example a woman who had to wait three weeks for her complaint concerning a hotel; she applied on the 18th of July but had to wait until the 11th of August to be attended.

The IU considers that Almunecar needs a daily service, or at least more extended public opening times so that citizens can enquire as to their rights, receive assistance and lodge official complaints. For this reason the IU has written a formal letter to the Mayoress, Trinidad Herrera, asking her to have the agreement signed between the Town Hall and the UCA modified, or to supply a member of the the municipal staff for this task.

In the meantime, if you have an urgent matter to discuss with the citizens’ advice bureau and would prefer to contact the provincial offices directly, you can do so here:

Calle Emperatriz Eugenia nº 5, 1ª planta. Oficina 10. Tel 958 296 006 email: uca-granada@uniondeconsumidores.com

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Andalucia)

Ex-Mayor, Juan Carlos Benavides, had announced the awarding of the building licence on the 18th of May and used the hotel project as the main thrust of his election campaign.

According to a report from the Junta de Andalucia, to which the IU has had access to, they contacted the Town Hall calling for the withdrawal of the hotel licence because it transgressed area development laws.

Fermin Tejero, who is the leader of the local branch of the IU, said that he hopes that the new administration does not try to go ahead with the project without sorting out the problems first.

“For Benavides, it was an election theme, but we cannot continue with how things have been done in the past,” he said, adding, “that otherwise the new administration would get its ‘fingers caught.’”

The report says that the project must have the approval of the Board of Tourism before the Town Hall can issue a building licence. Furthermore, Sr Tejero considers that the project contained many gaps and ambiguities that the Regional Board of Tourism was unable to approve this project for a 5-star hotel (Note: in no documentation submitted by either the building developer or the Town Hall does it mention ’7 stars, but only a 5-star category).

“It’s not even clear if the project fits in with the definition of a hotel; i.e., an establishment that occupies one or more buildings, having stairs, lifts and and an [main] entrance,” he observed.

Thus, he said, the Board of Tourism contacted the Town Hall on the 20th of May saying that until all the necessary paperwork was presented they could not give a favourable verdict.

Timeline;
18th May: May and hotel developer make a joint press announcement to communicate that the hotel now had its building licence.
20th May: Board of Tourism communicates that it requires more documents to issue a favourable report so that the Town Hall could go ahead and award a building licence.
22nd May: Local elections
11th June: New Mayoress takes office.
30th June: Junta orders the Town Hall to annul the building licence.

So far, neither Sr Benavides’ party, the CA, the hotel developer nor the present Mayoress have
commented.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Guests at the Hotel Playa Cotobro had either cancelled their bookings prior to arrival or had packed and left after the first day – the big selling point for the said hotel is precisely that beach.

Anyway, the Town Hall got onto the Department for Coasts in Madrid, asking for sand, but Madrid had replied that funds were too tight and that more important beaches around the Spanish coastline were in more need.

The solution, thought the Town Hall, was the river sand that was being dug out for a building project just around the corner – everybody happy… except some locals, that is, concerning the quality of the ‘material.’

Around midday, the IU (left-wing party) sent out a press release publicly asking the Town Hall to stop dumping ‘earth’ on Cotobro beach. The main beef of the ecological-minded opposition party is that the muddy turbulence caused in the water is causing considerable damage to the aquatic flora and fauna. It is worth pointing out, however, that when the rivers are in full spate, the same muddy turbulence is caused, year in; year out, but the seabed appears to be able to accommodate this phenomenon.

Anyway, faced with a less that generous article in the Ideal, vociferous complaints from some locals and the IU’s public announcement, the Town Hall issued their own press release, defending their actions.

The Concejal de Urbanismo, José Manuel Fernández, rejected the claim that the beach work was a botch job (chapuza). He points out that the work was put into motion at the request of the local people in the area and the material used was approved by the Costas.

The first thing that the Town Hall did, he said, was to approach the Ministry of the Environment, requesting urgent action, as July had already commenced and the summer tourist season was upon us. The Councillors said that he received a negative reply from the Ministry – they were out of cash, so the only solution was for the Town Hall to act itself.
“It’s not earth from a work site but river gravel; the same that has been used on other occasions and the same material that is brought down by the river in the natural process.”

He considered that the use of the word ‘chapuza’ was far from objective and that the words ‘urgent’ and ‘necessary’ would have been more appropriate.

Now, we at the Gazette could be mistaken, but we seem to remember that when the previous mayor, Juan Carlos Benavides, used the same ‘resources’ for such a situation, the PP, then in the opposition, were not too impressed. Perhaps we are mistaken and have faulty recall?

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

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