Costa Residents to demonstrate over lack of beach services

‘Residents groups will demonstrate on Tuesday fearing that Orihuela will lose many of it’s blue flag awards’

In the face of numerous complaints, the Association for Environmental and Consumer Education (ADEAC), which awards blue flags to the countryís best beaches, has asked the Orihuela Council for information on the poor condition of the Sendero Azul de Cabo Roig, also requesting that the flag be lowered.

The Cabo Roig y Lomas Neighborhood

Association has criticised the path on several occasions due to itís "abandonment" and poor maintenance, especially in the section that runs along the perimeter of La Caleta beach. They have highlighted the constant rockfalls with potential risk to the lives of pedestrians; the lack of more than 80 balusters, upright supports, along the wooden railing, pillars without adequate support, bad signage and deficiencies in the paving.

According to the Council, they have already been fixed, however, it is worrying that Orihuela, which has blue flags on its 11 beaches, will lose many of them this year due to deficiencies in their services, which include the lack of toilets and beach bars. With time already running out to put the services in place, prior to the upcoming holiday season, it seems increasingly unlikely that such provisions as sunbeds, umbrellas and water sports, will be available to the many thousands of holidaymakers that are likely to descend on the coast.

As such, Neighborhood associations and beach bar workers are calling on residents to join their demonstration on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. on the promenade of Cala Bosque, in La Zenia, to demand the renewal of these services and improvements to the beaches.

Neighborhood associations and beach bar workers are calling on residents to join their demonstration on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. on the promenade of Cala Bosque, in La Zenia.

In addition, fearing the loss of the 11 blue flags, they have registered a question in next Thursdayís plenary session for the inept Councillor of Beaches, Antonio S·nchez, about his proposals to maintain the guarantee of the blue flags.

It was S·nchez who stated at the February plenary session that by the beginning of March both the bidding for the beach bars and the installation of chemical toilets would be underway. "Two months have now passed, during which we had the Easter holiday period, and none of his promises have been met".

Meanwhile, Costas has demanded that the Orihuela Council remove the beach bars as they are not fulfilling the purpose for which they were authorised, as the facilities are closed to the public although Chiringuitos del Sol, which has successfully operated the service since 2018, has legally challenged the removal order by the Consistory.

The worst kept secret in the run up to the Municipal elections was finally confirmed on Thursday evening at the Extraordinary Meeting called by CLARO, when the Orihuela Costa party announced that, in exchange for the placement of a candidate on their electoral list, they will be putting their support behind the Partido Popular. At the meeting, the reason cited for not contesting the elections as a ‘stand alone party’ was the fall, by over 30%, in the number of foreigners who are currently registered in the municipality.

The membership was told that in the event that they head the municipal government, the Popular Party has guaranteed the appointment of a Councillor for the Coast with competences, a budget and a supporting team with C.L.A.R.O representation.

The CLARO activist to be included on the PP electoral list, as an Independent, will be it’s President Antonio Cerdán, although at what number we do not know. However, as the PP won just 9 of the council’s 25 seats in the 2019 elections, anything lower than that number would be unlikely to return him as a councillor, wasting any opportunity of there being a coastal councillor.

In a statement issued on Friday, C.L.A.R.O believes that the programme and reforms, which will be finalised and presented in the coming days, will receive broad support from the population of the coast and its representative associations. The party says that it is convinced that by joining forces and working together, the forthcoming elections will result in a stable, cohesive and majority government which will promote the unity and integration of all parts of the Orihuela municipality, it’s Centre, Pedanias and the Coast.