FREE
www.costablancapeople.com
1
CostaBlancaPeople 17th - 23rd January 2023
17TH - 23RD JANUARY 2023 - EDITION 975
Tel: 607 031 113 | claire@costablancapeople.com | costablancapeople.com
Your Essential Weekly Read
Coast to lose more land to developers
The Party for the Independence of Orihuela Costa, PIOC, is challenging the local government over the reclassification of land, some 33,000 m2, in Villamartin, in the area called El Barranco E3 which borders Zenia Boulevard. This is rustic land where it is illegal to build commercial premises or houses. However, the party believes that the company that bought this land did so planning to eventually reclassify the plot into land on which it could build commercial premises. PIOC president Peter Houghton explained: “We are talking about an important area because it absorbs water when it rains and limits the flooding that occurs on the road from La Zenia to Villamartín, which floods with the slightest amount of rain. It also serves as an ecological passage for birds and animals between protected areas. “In addition, given the deficiency in the waste system for purification
of human excrement, we are now being warned that the water company does not guarantee that there will be enough water for human consumption if everything that is planned is built. How then can commercial premises be allowed to be built in that area with the predicted lack of services.” PIOC believes that building in this area means that the water that should be absorbed by the ground when it rains will end up on the singlecarriageway road connecting La Zenia with Villamartín. This will increase flooding and create more problems, such as more traffic in an area where roads already struggle in the summer months. The local political party is calling for Orihuela Town Hall to paralyse all construction and provide real and adequate municipal services, for which, it points out that local residents pay taxes for and do not receive. PICOc said: “A study conducted by the land owners, which we believe
Peter Houghton
may have been part-funded by the city council, is based on ideal assumptions
that in no way correspond to reality. Should we be successful in the 2023 elections we would stop all construction until there is a comprehensive study of the deficiencies in public services which the residents pay for and do not receive. We would wait until they have been corrected before making decisions on further developments.” PIOC believes that the key issue for
the coast lies in the lack of municipal and public services such as inadequate garbage collection, purification of human excrement, no public library, cultural centre or exhibition hall – just to name the main short comings. Peter concluded: “There are plenty of commercial premises and in fact the global trend is not to use them, but to move towards home working and online shopping. In this area, all of the shopping centres have empty units that have been for rent or sale for some considerable time. It makes no sense to reclassify rustic land to build more shops and businesses and particularly when it will have a detrimental effect on the environment and local services.”