RIGHT TO ROAM AGAIN

A LONG-running impasse over a closed stretch of an Orihuela Costa footpath has moved closer to being solved.

The 60 metre section has finally been given authorisation to reopen from the Provincial Coastal Service (Costas).

The short route linking the Aquamarina path with La Caleta was shut in December 2021 after a court order ruled the Bellavista urbanisation could close it It meant that walkers had to make a two kilometre detour to get to the beach.

Orihuela council will now have to reach an expropriation deal with the Bellavista owners with claims that they have offered them €66,000.

However, the group are allegedly holding out for a handout of €2 million to reopen the path.

If no agreement is reached, a Court of Arbitration will be brought in to find a solution.

The Bellavista development was approved in 1990 when Orihuela council inexplicably did not insist that the entire path remain public.

Residents later built a barrier in 2013 to shut off access to the 60-metre stretch, but it was taken down two years later by the council.

A legal challenge ensued in which the council was eventually forced to shut it two years ago.

While locals celebrated the new ruling by Costas, a spokesperson for the Cabo Roig and Lomas Neighbourhood Association insisted: “It would be really unfortunate if the path remains closed this summer.”

From front page HAND S OFF OUR COSTAS

“The government is launching a new water war against the Levante region,” insisted spokesman Jose Andreu. “They should instead be calling a debate.”

An economic study by academic and industry experts found the reductions from 8.6 to 6m3/second would result in the loss of almost 5,500 jobs. It will cost a loss of €334 million annually in the Murcia region alone.

Kill

In the three provinces combined, the study found that the transfer cutbacks would kill almost 9,800 jobs and €524 million annually.

But the repercussions extend beyond the region’s local economy; it is also threatening the intensive farming that feeds much of the continent. It was an unenviable call by the government, as climate change is hitting Spain hard and there simply isn’t enough water to go round.

The Tagus, the

Bull plunge horror

Iberian peninsula's longest river, is drying up to the extent that it is possible to cross its almost dry river bed by foot in summer.

EXPLAINED: A DWINDLING SUPPLY

Just like the shrinking Nile in Egypt and the Tigris in Iraq, the right to draw wa- ters of the Tagus - which rises in Teruel before crossing Spain south of Madrid and then into Portugal - has become a politi- cal hot potato.

The central Castile-La Mancha region has long complained that its land has been ‘sacri- ficed’ for the farmers of the south-east.

But the farmers here see it dif- ferently.

“If they take it from us, it will be nothing but a desert here,” Murcia farmer Juan Francis- co Abellaneda told France24. “We need the water to survive. If they do not bring us the wa- ter, what are we going to live on?” he asked.

Since the gigantic Tagus-Segu- ra Water Transfer project was completed in stages between 1979 and 2003, Spain’s average temperature has shot up by 1.3 degrees Celsius. The flow of the Tagus has dropped by %12 over the same period and the govern- ment estimates the Tagus flow could plummet by up to %40 by 2050.

One youngster, Pilar Ruiz, backed up the study saying: “Students are made to behave like robots performing the same exercises year after year.

“Classes are boring and theory-based with little practice and no motivation to learn English in a fun way meaning we lose interest in learning the language, even though nowadays we need English for everything,“ she added.

Deadly beauties

A PAIR of deadly butterfly vipers have been added to Terra Natura’s collection.

The African snakes will have their deadly venom tested to produce anti-bite treatments.

Terra Natura has an anti-venom bank for poisonous snakes of nearly all African, Asian and American species. The species is native to the jungles of west and central Africa.

Coming down

WAITING lists for non-emergency surgeries have fallen to pre-pandemic levels in the Valencia region.

The average surgery wait in March was 77 days - 11 days lower than a year ago. The reduction is thanks to outsourcing to private hospitals plus paying surgeons more overtime.

There are still 72,596 patients waiting for a procedure - up 3,482 on February's total.

NO

A BULL had to be put down at a local fiesta after it jumped over a wall and plunged 15 metres to the ground, breaking its legs in the process. The incident, which was captured on camera by onlookers, happened in Ontinyent (Valencia) as the animal was running through the streets of the municipality. The bull can be seen running toward the wall and, unsighted, jumping over it to the shrieks and shouts of horror of the public. The fall was the equivalent of five storeys. The animal ended up laid out on the ground by the river and with its legs

TERROR: Bull jumped wall and broke his legs broken. It was eventually moved from the scene and put down.

The incident saw the bullfighting events programmed for the evening in Ontinyent cancelled, and also called into question the preparations made by the local council.

A BRITISH family were left flabbergasted by a derisory compensation offer from their tour operator after their dream holiday turned into a bed-bug-infested nightmare.

Gary Turner, 57, and Jutta Turner, 55, suffered from being feasted on by swarms of blood suckers over the course of eight nights at a four star hotel in Puerto Pollensa.

Gary suffered an allergic reaction to the blanket of bed bug bites on the back of his head, which ended with an ambulance ride to hospital and a painful emergency shot in his bottom.

Nightmare

When confronted over the Turners’ nightmare ordeal, operator Tui only offered them 10% off one of the two rooms they had booked with their two daughters, aged 24 and 31, as compensation. They were given an alternative offer of 20% off their next holiday with Tui, but this was rejected and Gary and Jutta demanded a full refund.