Seaside Gazette » Junta

Sports Hall Controversy

David Darby — Sun, 02 May 2010 08:42:17 +0000

The La Herradura residents association to trying it’s hardest to prevent the demolition of the town sports hall, and have started a campaign to that effect to try and defend the legality of the building, which the Junta, in the form of the Prosecutor’s Office, has said is illegal, and that the land should be returned to its original state.
Among the arguments being put forward by the residents association is that the facilities have “been a breakthrough in sporting facilities for the area, which were demanded by residents for many years, for our children and other sports users to be able to use facilities that are not exposed to inclement weather.”
The comments were included in a letter to the Junta, which also said, “we do not understand the stubbornness of the Junta in this matter, despite having lost every argument, you continue in your efforts to go ahead with this absurd and irrational demolition, now trying to do so under criminal law,” The letter said.
The legal side of things appears to be that the Junta claim that the original local government team who approved the build, knew it was on illegal land, but proceeded anyway and changed the designation, all of which occurred in 2005, according to the prosecution.
Going back to the letter from the residents association, it concluded, “therefore, the undersigned demand that the Board cease its attempt to punish the people of La Herradura by depriving them of their sports hall, which is providing a great service.”

Stink is Past?

Editor — Sat, 01 May 2010 20:28:14 +0000

Have you ever been in the Las Góndolas area of Almuñécar and smelt that awful sewage stench during the high occupation months? The smell emanates next to the bunker like building right on the corner of the Las Góndolas property, which is supposed to be a pumping station to take all the nasty stuff away. Well, the good news is, that the Junta have finally guarantee that the new installations will be completed before the arrival of summer – all work had been on hold for at least three months. The new building will house machinery more than up to the task of pumping the areas nasty bits away.
The problem has always been that the previous pumping station was just not up to the job, and work on he new one would have started six months ago had it not been for some technical issues, which presented themselves.
Anyway, all that aside, the 2.3 million euros has been allocated, and now the work will continue, which on completion should ensure that all those horrible bits and bobs make their way, swiftly and in an odour free way, straight up to the sewage treatment works near the entrance of the barranco de Ítrabo.

Demolition Order?

Editor — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 20:48:49 +0000

Back in March 2006, Ecologists in Acción, launched a complaint against the 51-house development, Urbanisación, Los Pinos, asking what such a residential estate was doing in a supposed green belt area. The Mayor’s rapid response pointed out that the planning permission was approved on the 14th January 2002, when the previous administration under the PP-PSOE coalition council.
According to the Mayor, the Ecologists made no objection whilst the housing was going up, and that his party had opposed the project. He also said that the Ecologist might like to investigate the fact that there is a 166sq/mt property on the estate that belongs to the brother of somebody who signed the building permission. What the Mayor did not mention was that his administration signed the first occupation certificate…
Fast forward four years and we have this present situation and the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Andalucía’s recent findings, in which they uphold the Junta’s case against the Town Hall and the development company, Playa Costa Tropical S.L., in which the Junta demands that the original building licence be revoked, because the urbanisation is sitting on green-belt land.
Regressing in time again to 2001, during a plenary meeting of the full council when the project was approved, several members of the public had lodged objections to the building project but their complaints were squashed during the said plenary-council meeting because the project ‘was fully in line with legality.’
Approval, then, was given for the go-ahead by the PSOE-PP-PILH governing coalition in 2002. Benavide’s party (let’s call a spade a spade because although the name of his party changes, there’s no doubt who calls the shots) was in opposition and voted against the project.
The then Mayors, (PSOE and PP alternated in the mayor’s seat) claim that they had no alternative but to approve the project because the Town Hall Surveyor had submitted favourable reports – i.e., they had no justification for rejecting it. But, as mentioned above, Benavide’s party voted against – which is quite interesting, and raises the question, what justification did he use? Bear in mind that the Municipal Surveyor is popularly conceived as a Benavides man.
The IU, who have never government because they are a minority party, probably asked the most pointed questions and made the most damning conclusions. They fact is, IU leader, Fermín Tejero, says is that it doesn’t matter who was governing the Town Hall at the time, the Town Hall, as an entity, is responsible and inter-party bickering is irrelevant. More to the point, if the 51 dwellings are demolished, all of which were bought in good faith, the Almuñécar taxpayer will end up footing the bill for the compensation that will inevitably have to be paid out, in such an end scenario.
The PP claim that the Junta has moved the goal posts because it has been common practice, where privately owned, green-belt land is concerned, that as long as the total surface area is respected, a green-belt plot can been developed as long as the total area is swapped for building land elsewhere; i.e., the green-belt plot becomes developable and the hitherto building land is converted into green belt land. The PSOE-governed Junta, according to the PP, has never objected to this up until now.
The Mayor heroically states that the Town Hall will stand by the property owners; victims of the PSOE-PP-PIHL coalition’s perfidious workings, forgetting, it seems, that behind this long list of ‘homes in danger of demolition,’ it is always the Town Hall that is responsible, regardless of who is in power at the time – the very people that should be safeguarding us.

Rock ‘N Roll

David Darby — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:44:33 +0000

After writing about the undermining on the Punta, and reassuring everyone that we were not suggesting that the area was about to fall into the sea, you can imagine my shock when that big old rock on the bend just before Chambao de Joaquin, came crashing down, completely blocking the road.
I have since seen a team of surveyors at the site, taking some sort of measurements, and the clean up is well under way as this article is being processed.
However, just a little way around the coast in Marina del Este, it appears the earth is on the move, and damaging properties. Blame for this is not being put at the door of mother nature, as many local people are complaining that both the Town Hall and the Junta should shoulder at least some of the blame. The problem is alleged to be the lack of maintenance to the underground drainage channels which run through man made galleries, and the Town Hall along with the Junta agree, after an inspection by municipal technicians, that the blame lies entirely with the management company for the lack of maintenance and strongly urged the them to carry out the required work to safeguard the area. They state that the company specifically comply with the agreement dated 10 April 2007. The engineers report puts the budget for the maintenance work at 309,000, and the Town Hall says that a fine will be imposed on the management company for every month the work is not done, each fine being 10% of the total cost. They also asked for details of any damage to buildings to be examined by an engineer and details submitted within 10 days.
The director of the company Manuel Raigón said, “The problems is not just the maintenance of the caves and channels, it is also an urban issue and more complex than it appears”.
There has since been a hearing at court in Granada, where a judge has said that the responsibility for making the galleries safe is not the management company’s alone, but should be shared with the Town Hall.

Which Brings Us to Benny…

Editor — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:54:59 +0000

Which brings us on to Benny… Judicially speaking; he has kicked some serious arse. Without doubt, 2010 has been a triumphant year for Juan Carlos Benavides in the law courts, but for all of his victories, as I write this we are only in February with 10 months left to go before 2010 he can proclaim Annus Mirabilis.
A whole swarm of the Junta’s cases against his urban development deeds have crashed to the floor, partly through the Junta’s own ineptitude (presenting the necessary legal documentation outside the maximum time limit, for example.)
On a personal level for him, where he faced prison sentences, even he was worried over the forced TV closure case, for which he was finally acquitted. It is important to note, however, in this particular case, it was proved that the TV station was closed illegally – what was not proved was that he was behind it.
You will also remember that the Mayor walked away from a multi-million compensation condemnation, after an 18-year legal wrangle. So convinced was he that he would end up having to pay it, he allegedly (according to the Public Prosecutor) entered into fraudulent bankruptcy, the consequences of which will eventually be decided before a Judge. Also still outstanding is the case over the La Herradura Sports Centre that was built on green-belt land – this could also cost him his mayoralty.
The Mayor claims that it is all a conspiracy that goes back to when he was the Provincial Secretary of the PSOE, and that his ex-party are determined to take from him via the law courts what they are incapable of obtaining through the voting urns. This was a legal argument used by his defence lawyers, by the way, presenting their client as a victim of political persecution.
But all this costs money to the taxpayer. During 2008 the Town Hall blew 300,000 euros in legal expenses and a further 102,000 in compensation. The previous year legal expenses reached 291,000 and it certainly doesn’t look as if 2010 will be any cheaper.
As for the opposition parties, greeted by this unwelcome news of Benavides Invictus, both the PSOE and PP quickly announced that they respect the judge’s decision – what their comments might be behind closed doors, concerning the Judge is another matter – perhaps the Judges’ mother might be mentioned…
However one political opponent is more outspoken and less politically correct in his evaluation of the court finding: Fermín Tejero, leader of the IU. “That they should acquit him does not mean that he is not guilty,” he said – and he couldn’t have expressed himself more clearly, could he. Actually, he could, in fact, and did: he considered the finding over the forced closure of the TV station to be “a piss take against common sense.”
Sr. Tejero explained the reasoning behind his words, thus: “The evidence very clear. The Town Hall closed the TV station down by force [the
Judge does not dispute this] and yet nobody is guilty? This sentence is profoundly disappointing because it leaves the citizenship defenceless before the abuse of power,” he said. He concluded by stating, “You only have to look at the programming records of the TV station following Benavides coup and you can see that it is completely at his service. We, in the IU, ask people not to confuse acquittal with innocence,” meaning that guilt could not be proved, but neither his innocence.
Summing up, the Mayor’s next appointments are this summer; in June and July and if his fortune holds, then he will be standing for re-election in May 2011. Will he be able to pull it off?
Napoleon was at his finest during 1814 when he took on the armies of four powerful, invading nations: Russia, Prussia, Austria and Great Britain. He demonstrated again the talent of that young general, who with barefooted soldiers crushed the arrogant armies of empires; an image far removed from an unimaginative emperor at the head of the world’s largest-ever army of the time (1812) Yet for all his brilliant general-ship as his enemies closed in 1814, he and his adversaries knew that it was only a matter of time before either his enemies defeated him or his people deserted him – in the end it was the latter and he was exiled to Elba.

Money for Road Damage

Editor — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:38:53 +0000

You will all, no doubt be pleased to hear that the Central Government and the Junta de Andalucía are going to chuck three million euros at the Alpujarra road system to prevent it from following the above church’s example. This will come as a huge relief for the folk up in Pampaneira, whose access road is starting to look like the Somme, 1916.

School Dinners

Editor — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:49:51 +0000

The IU councillor, Fermín Tejero, has asked the Junta de Andalucía to annul a planned increase in the cost of school dinners.
According to Sr. Tejero, the price of school meals now stands at €4.50 per day, which works out at a 60-cent increase of the daily rate.
“At moments when the inter-annual IPC (RPI) is showing negative figures, this increment represents a 15.4% one,” he explained, adding that, “The cost of school meals, between 2006 and 2009, has grown by 43%, whilst the accumulated IPC in Andalucía during the same period has risen only by 8.7%.”
In other words, the cost of school meals has far outreached the corresponding increase in earning. In fact, in the meantime, many parents now find themselves out of work and having used up all their social welfare benefits.

Eco-Órgiva

Editor — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:32:13 +0000

Órgiva hits the limelight thanks to the Junta de Andalucía choosing the capital of the Alpujarra as the subject of a national pilot project on sustainable urban development.
A mega-big-wig in the Junta, who has an official title that strings together like a regurgitated Serbo-Croatian dictionary, said, “With the project, which is on a pioneering level in Spain, has the object of making Órgiva a town with less pollution, quieter, with a less stressing mobility. In other words, we’re trying to change Órgiva first, and then the towns around it, into more inviting places and with a better quality of life.”
Well, the said big wig, María José Asensio, rattled on a bit more about how wonderful Órgiva is going to be and that the locals will get issued with harps and personal mobility clouds for getting around on and that’s about it, Folks. Nevertheless, watch this space!

Fish Factory Increase

Editor — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:59:38 +0000

Despite a statement from the fish farm that they would be giving up the ghost on the project and limit themselves to maturing the existing stock and then shutting up shop, the Piscifactoría de la Azucarera del Guadalfeo de Salobreña has announced that they will increasing the number of existing fish pens!
The reason is that they have received an injection of 1.030,000 euros, 50% of which came from the Junta de Andalucía. The idea is to replace the 36 old pens for new larger ones that will mean a 50% increase in production – great news for after-storm beach anglers, eh?

New School for Tablones & Cáñar

Editor — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:18:24 +0000

Tablones, as well as Cáñar, now has new education centres, thanks to funds from the Education Board of the Junta de Andalucía… bless them. The Delegate for the board, Ana Gámez, inaugurated the two centres, together with the one in Soportújar, which unsurprisingly only has four pupils; i.e., the entire village.
These three education centres are all part of the Colegio Público Rural ‘El Alféizar,’ whose Head is José Antonio Pino, known as Joe Tony Pine, to his mates, perhaps. The school has 16 teachers and 115 pupils from 14 different nationalities and the odd outer-solar system planet.
The Mayoress of Órgiva, María Ángeles Blanco (Mary Angel White) said that 560,000 euros had been spent on this new school in the municipal dependency, Los Tablones. The Mayor of Cáñar, not to be outdone, pointed out that the school in his village had four classrooms and had been built on the site of the old school which had been built in 1960. Ha! That told her!
Anyway, according to Ana Gámez (the Delegate from the Education Board – do try and pay attention!) these sort of schools for villages of fewer than 500 inhabitants cover more than one need: not only do they provide class rooms for the pupils, but they also act as meeting centres for locals, as well as somewhere for kids to hold out-of-school activities, such as car burning or hyper-galactic conker competitions.