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Vol. 4 Issue 100 www.theolivepress.es February 23rd - March 8th 2023
Showing solidarity OVER 4,000 people took part in Sunday’s Solidarity against Cancer walk in La Nucia, after a two-year hiatus caused by the Covid pandemic. The five kilometre trek between the Ciutat Esportiva and the El Captivador environmental education centre became a trail of green with participants wearing the special event t-shirts. Despite a few early drops of rain, the weather turned sunny for the event which was about raising money through raffle ticket sales for the Spanish Association Against Cancer and Anemone Association.
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TWO of the Valencia region’s airports recorded record January passenger numbers in a positive sign of how tourism is recovering after the Covid pandemic. Alicante-Elche airport welcomed 795,148 passengers - up by 68.1% on 2021 and crucially a 1.3% increase on the record-breaking 2019 total. The biggest number of foreign arrivals were from the United Kingdom on 245,279, with the Netherlands a distant second on 69,503. Valencia’s total of 585,771 was an even larger 7.9% improvement on 2019 and a 73.4% increase on a year earlier.
FLYING HIGH Italian arrivals lead the list with 94,177, followed by the United Kingdom on 48,348, and France on 43,947. Spain had 71.6 million international tourists last year - 14.3% less than in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Tourism bosses have confidently predicted a busy 2023 with a survey of 2,000 businesses published last month by Exceltur predicting that revenue will be up 4.7% on 2019 figures.
LIFELINE
IT has taken over two decades, but now hundreds of expat-owned homes could finally be legalised in inland Valencia. A tentative agreement has been struck to allow nearly 300 irregular properties in the Jalon Valley to become legal. Lliber town hall has confirmed that it will grant so-called ‘MIT licences’ to regularise the homes in countryside near the vilMORAIRA PLUMBING HEATING lage. It would PLUMBING & AIR CONDITIONING SPECIALISTS m e a n the ownGiastu Aroma 2 ers - who 2,5 kw R32 gas refrigerate A+++20db spent up SPECIAL to €1.5m 3 years warranty OFFER on their including standard homes installation and material - could 599€ (inc IVA) finally m o v e SOLAR ELECTRIC ENERGY NOW BEING INSTALLED on with Air Conditioning | Bathroom Fitting t h e i r lives and Gas and Oil Central Heating | Electrics Certification & Inspection | Pool | Solar Energy
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After decades of fighting hundreds of homeowners could finally see their properties legalised MIT (Territorial Impact Minimisation) licences. These are aimed at solving the not live under a sword of Damocles problem of houses built on rural that had been threatening demoli- land without initial licences leaving homeowners in a legal limbo ever tion since the 1990s. “The meeting was the best one I’ve since. been to with the mayor present in The problem came about because 22 years,” Adrian Hobbs, the pres- for decades local Spanish were ident of association Abusos Urban- effectively allowed to build small isticos Lliber No (AULN), told the properties on their land without a licence. Olive Press, this week. “I hope to finally have a legal “Nothing would happen unless it home…But you’re not seeing me waswasn’t outlandish,” explained dancing around with happiness former decades when these propjust yet, because I've been here be- erties were sold to foreigners,” added Kirby, who has been emfore,” he added. The new potential breakthrough ployed by the regional governcomes after the regional govern- ment to liaise with homeowners ment passed the LOTUP law in and town halls. 2019, setting up the Valencian The main issue is that while buyAgency for Territorial Protection ers thought their homes were le(AVPT), which offered the new gal they didn’t have official occupation licences. This meant they PROPERTIES WANTED could not be legally occupied or even maintained, nor could the owners get utilities or services, or sign on the padron (municipal roll) and therefore vote in By Simon Hunter
local elections. Kirby estimates there are 194,000 illegal properties in the Valencia region alone. “Yet from all those thousands of properties, fewer than 2,000 need to be knocked down,” he told the Olive Press this week. “If the town halls play ball, the other 192,000 can be legalised.” In Lliber, where there are 292 such houses, the issue ended up in the courts in 2009, with members of the PP – including the current mayor – implicated.
Criminal
This criminal case is still going on, with insiders telling the Olive Press they believe the council has been dragging its heels over the MIT licences while it waits for a ruling. The mayor of Lliber, Jose Juan Reus, denied this, insisting all the residents have to do is request a licence, adding the ‘process will be quick’. “No one has a greater interest to see the situation resolved than I do,” he told the Olive Press this week. Opinion Page 6
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