Residents asked to rename King Juan Carlos I street
PEDREGUER plans to ask its residents to rechristen a street named after retired monarch Juan Carlos I after councillors voted to strip the exking of his local tribute.
After a probe into his financial affairs from 2011 led to the Rex Emeritus leaving the country despite being officially placed under investigation – several Marina Alta towns decided to change street names to wipe out any reference to the 82yearold royal.
He is alleged to have received multimillioneuro backhanders linked to the Saudi government and a Spanish public works contract to build a highspeed rail network to the holy city of Mecca, and an eightfigure ‘ donation’ to his
friend Corinna Larsen – the German former Countess zu
Sein Wittgenstein.
Pego, Jalón and Pedreguer are three of the Marina Alta towns planning to rename their Juan Carlos I streets, and the latter has launched an online questionnaire for residents to make suggestions.
They will be asked to explain why they picked a given name, and the final choice is likely to be someone of local historical significance, living or not, or who has made a major contribution to the community, according to the town hall.
The most recent ‘ resident vote’ in Pedreguer sought ideas for spending the town’s local development grant.
A total of 650 people took part, with the majority opting to pedestrianise the village centre, improve accessibility and set up a car park.