Trees given the axe

RESIDENTS in Marbella’s Calle Sierra Blanca are complaining that the council has cut down all the trees to make way for building work.

Town hall workers this week took chainsaws to 10 trees in the city centre street in what is being criticised as an ongoing practice by the council.

Environmentalists report that the local authorities have resorted to cutting down trees all over the city centre during restoration work over the last several years, with many areas now left totally bereft of shade.

Previous affected sites have included Avenida Antonio Belón, Calles Miguel Cano, Notario Luis Oliver, Víctor de la Serna and Alonso de Bazán, plus the Plaza de Los Naranjos.

Attempts to cut down trees in Alameda park have so far been stopped, but residents are calling on the local authorities to find different ways to improve the city without eliminating the precious vegetation. With less than three months to go for the local elections, this could become a prickly issue for the ruling PP party.

Where is our stadium?

EIGHT months have now passed since the plans for the new municipal football stadium in Marbella were announced ­ and nothing has yet been done.

The town hall awarded the contract to a construction firm last July and said the project would be ready in three months, but work has not even started yet.

In fact, the only news since then was an announcement made by Marbella Football Club in January, when the club revealed plans to take charge of building the stadium, valued at more than €18 million, although the negotiations did not work out.

Meanwhile, exasperated fans and players look on as a similar stadium is well on the way to being ready in La Linea de la Concepción in Cadiz

Province, thanks to an agreement between the local council and the Junta de Andalucia regional government.

Work on the Cadiz stadium began in May, prompting Marbella football enthusiasts to complain that if everything had gone according to plan, their ground would already be nearing completion too.