JÁVEA MAYOR ALLAYS EXPATS' LAND-GRAB FEARS

PANICKED residents who feared their homes would be bulldozed to widen a road to Jávea port have been reassured during a meeting with mayor José Chulvi this week.

The proposed new town layout plan, or PGOU, involved the ringroad through the La Soberana area being dualled and increased to 12 metres in width.

This would encroach on private property and potentially mean up to five houses either knocked down or losing part of their gardens.

And even if this was not the case, residents were concerned their peaceful way of life would be disturbed by fast-moving port traffic.

Similar worries spread around residents on the C/Italia, a one-way street which was to be widened to 16 metres, given two lanes, pavements and a cycle lane.

Chulvi has agreed, however, that the Camí Soberana would only be eight metres wide and single-carriageway.

He suggested leaving it as it stands, but residents wanted mains drainage, street lights and pavements added. These will be proposed when reactions to the PGOU are reviewed. The C/ Italia will be left as it is.

Chulvi explained that when a PGOU is at the 'exhibition' stage, it is only provisional and councils have 'plenty of room' for adapting them in accordance with residents' needs.

The plan includes huge swathes of green-belt land to prevent over-building, limiting population growth, meaning road-widening is not a priority, the mayor concluded.