What parking crisis?

Dénia says it has 'enough spaces' and visitors should 'walk or get the bus'

KEEP your cars out of town and walk or catch the bus, Dénia has urged visitors – although with most of its central streets undergoing major roadworks, this advice may be redundant anyway.

Public safety councillor Javier Scotto, who is also parish leader for Jesús Pobre, says motorists should have no need to drive into the town centre since 'there are 2,500 perfectly good spaces' in the outskirts.

These are all free of charge and ' just a five-minute walk' from Dénia's main shopping, eating and tourism hub, Scotto says.

And anyone who wants to go to Las Rotas beach – a rocky cove popular for snorkelling – should take one of the once-every-half-hour buses thtat run there, the councillor advises.

Infrequent visitors have often fallen foul of Dénia's parking problems – the oncefree spaces in the massive grounds in the port area now either attract a charge or are reserved for ferry passengers only, having been privatised by shipping companies.

Those who do not realise this until they get there could find themselves hunting frantically for a space close to town, only to find their car towed away with a €121 release fee because of poor signposting.

And the walk to the car pound off the main Ondara road, down country lanes with no pavements, is considerably more than five minutes – up to an hour, in fact.

Visitors and traders complain Scotto has failed to bear in mind that many day-trippers are pensioners and cannot necessarily walk from the outof-town car parks – that's if they can even find them.