Costa residents’ ultimatum
Political parties given a list of necessities
RESIDENTS of Orihuela Costa have published a programme of the bare minimum they expect from whatever council is formed following the municipal elections in May.
Around 300 members of the Cabo Roig and Lomas residents’ association (AVCRL), who actually live all over Orihuela Costa, have submitted numerous proposals to what they assure is, ‘a real reflection of the needs perceived by the neighbourhood’.
The ‘Minimal Programme for the People of Orihuela Costa’ proposes 110 actions by Orihuela town hall to solve ‘serious issues’ in the municipality’s coastal area during the next four-year term of office. It also includes an estimate of the budgetary income necessary to carry out the investments and improvements in basic services that the municipality needs, and calls on political parties to show how their manifesto promises will be funded in order to make them more credible. At least €8 million should be allocated to Orihuela Costa investments and improvements as compensation for its historical shortcomings in services and infrastructure, the association argues.
AVCRL will send this document to the candidates of all
the municipal parties that will contest the next elections and, once the electoral programmes of each party have been made public, the association will analyse and publish how well the manifestoes meet these needs, so that people can take this into consideration before they cast their vote on May 28.
The ‘current shortcomings’ are such that ‘a comprehensive and urgent four-year action plan’ is needed, including ‘implementation of most of the measures proposed’, they assure. These measures are grouped into 26 topics covering every aspect of how the area is managed, including budgets, town planning, public security and traffic, fiestas, infrastructure, maintenance and services, beaches, education, public transport, the environment, health, street cleaning and refuse collection, culture, tourism, immigration, commerce and employment, amongst others.
To this end, AVCRL argue that this plan would ‘need to be managed by an appropriate working team, around a dedicated council department specifically for the coast, headed by a deputy mayor’.
“We want to show our predisposition to help the next governors of the municipality of Orihuela to change the current harsh reality and return Orihuela Costa to the splendour it had years ago, bringing the level of its services and infrastructure up to the level of the beauty of its landscapes and incomparable beaches,” the association assures.