Ombudsman takes on closure complaint
PROTESTS over the traffic closure of a central Denia boulevard have reached the regional ombudsman, who has ordered local authorities to hand over its file.
Traders, residents, workers and regular visitors have banded together to fight the council’s determination to pedestrianise the Marqués de Campo street permanently, setting up the association Obrim el Centre (let’s open the town centre).
They have long insisted that if people cannot access or park on the street, shops and bars already struggling as a result of the pandemic will be forced to pack up through lack of custom, and residents with heavy shopping bags, restricted mobility, small children, or the elderly would find their lives made impossible by not being able to get near their street in their vehicles. Commuters could also face either a long walk from the nearest free parking spaces – about 10 minutes away on foot – or increased expenses given that the port car parks now all attract a fee.
Mayor Vicent Grimalt is sticking firmly to his agenda though, saying the Marqués de Campo shutdown was part of his electoral manifesto and therefore ‘what the public voted for’. Now, the regional ombudsman has opened a file and requested to see the council’s complete mobility plan.
Obrim el Centre members say in their complaint form that the council had voted in favour – twice – of a mobility system contained within the town layout plan, covering a battery of measures due to be put in place before the street was closed to cars.
None of these, they say, has come into effect, despite the boulevard now being blocked with ‘sinking’ bollards. The association said basic rights were under threat, since they would not be able to access their own homes, not even to drop off bags or help disabled people get indoors.
Members cannot access or carry out their jobs in a normal fashion, since delivery vans have to double-park against the bollards that have blocked off the street, and shops, restaurants and the indoor market have suffered ‘serious financial loss’, they claim. They have been told that if vehicles are allowed onto the Marqués de Campo, bars would not be able to put tables outside – but this is not true, says the association.