I went into the Town Hall today to meet with Candido before the British consular representative arrived at 1.30pm.
As you could expect I had a number of bits and pieces to discuss with him following my holiday, however, I did not have time to raise all the issues and so some must wait for next week. I felt the most important issue today was to clarify the situation with regard to upcoming court cases and the situation regarding the Calle Nervion recent case and so we restricted our discussions to those.
Firstly regarding Cale Nervion and the recent ruling by the judge hearing that case and her decision to find against the TH and the builders. Candido reiterated the fact that, as can be seen from the full ruling, she only took evidence from the Autonomic Police and the Juntas' technico. She did this and in her judgement, she states, that she only listened to their arguments, as they were impartial! This is a total falsehood as both the Autonomic Police and the Technico were instrumental in denouncing the TH in the first place. So how can they be impartial? He highlighted the fact that we had presented to the court 3 other technicos (architects in planning) and a professor who teaches judges and solicitors on planning laws, who would all have testified in our favour but she did not listen to any of them. These 4 persons who are eminent in their field would have given evidence to say that the TH acted within the correct norms in granting the building licences but she chose not to hear any of this evidence. This and other factors such as those listed in her judgement eg the fact that Calle Nervion has no tarmac roads, no lights, etc can easily be disproved by reference to Goolzoom.
Candido then informed me that the case which was due to be heard a couple of months ago regarding the 5 or 6 houses in Los Llanos (Calle Maimonides and Averroes) will be heard by the same judge as above on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of June. This is an even more farcical situation as the area that is being contested has been misidentified 3 times by the courts. At first the Autonomic Police were requested to visit the properties in front of Calle Abderraman. When they arrived they photographed the house in the above streets and then the court tried to open the indictments in relation to Calle Abderraman. A real cock up!
The next case to be heard after this will be one on 3rd to 6th June relating to some of the houses on the right before dropping down to the rambla in Cuesta de los Pinos. This however is to be heard by a different judge.
Lastly on the 14th June a 'new' case relevant to some houses in Los Menchones on the right before entering Arboleas. This is another case of stretching the law to suit political purposes, as this case has been heard in the civil lower court, the civil higher court and the appeal court who have all found in favour of the TH. So they are now trying to get it heard in the Penal courts!
Having been through this lot I was feeling depressed, however, Candido then told me that we have had some good news in that the first Penal case, which was heard against Anthonio of New Horizons (which was won) last May, had had its appeal hearing and they have again found in favour of the TH. Even saying that no misconduct could be discerned in this case. This decision was made just 3 days after the judge ruled in the Calle Nervion case and gives us even more ammunition for the appeal. I then spoke with the solicitors for the TH who advised that they are working through the video of the original case re Calle Nervion and they will lodge the appeal within the next 10 days and are very confident of success. This may take up to a year to be heard.
That was my meeting over but, I had been asked to stay, as a representative from the British Consulate in Madrid had asked to meet with the TH and they thought it appropriate I was in that meeting.
I have to say (I hope) that I was able to be of some use to our expat residents in being able to give a picture of how we feel and what we think of the current situation.
The representative who attended at the TH was Bernadette Gallagher, a section Consular from the British Embassy in Madrid. Present for the meeting were the chief solicitor for the TH and his No 2, the TH Architect Luis, the Mayor, Candido and the TH Secretary Manolo. Just prior to the meeting Candido and Kiko had asked me if I would be present to answer any questions and to give an expats view of the ludicrous situation regarding the court cases and the political nature of these.
The meeting gave Ms Gallagher an overview of the history of persecution experienced by Zurgena at the hands of the Junta over the past 7 years. During the meeting I was afforded a few opportunities to express our feelings and our hopes that in some way the Embassy (whilst I acknowledges that they could not interfere with a sovereign countries legal system) could bring some pressure to bear in such blatant political actions that we were suffering. I also gave her a copy of the court ruling re Calle Nervion and we demonstrated how biased that judgement was by showing her the ruling and then goolzoom pictures of Los Carasoles. She seemed as amazed, as I first was, at this ruling. The solicitors confirmed for Ms Galagher the facts, regarding these spurious court actions. It felt so strange to me that, here we were, in a small TH in Spain with 2 solicitors, 3 independent people and 3 politicians, all bar one of whom were Spanish, and we were effectively asking the British Embassy to help us!!
I do not know what the embassy will be able to do but at least to have them understand our situation made me feel better. I hope that some pressure can be brought to bear on regional or central government to help end this constant merry go round of baseless legal actions or to positively impact on our ability to get the PGOU agreed.
I, on your behalf, thanked her for coming, as I felt that most of us would be pleased know that someone outside now knows the situation and she promised to keep in touch. I felt that she listened intently and with some disbelief regarding the facts but I am sure she now has a good understanding of our plight
As usual if I have failed to explain anything to your satisfaction or you need anything further don't hesitate to email me at the above address or call me on my mobile 661147554.
As an aside, the budget for 2013 has been agreed, without reference to the sewerage works but things are progressing and we should have some news in the next few weeks.
As you could expect I had a number of bits and pieces to discuss with him following my holiday, however, I did not have time to raise all the issues and so some must wait for next week. I felt the most important issue today was to clarify the situation with regard to upcoming court cases and the situation regarding the Calle Nervion recent case and so we restricted our discussions to those.
Firstly regarding Cale Nervion and the recent ruling by the judge hearing that case and her decision to find against the TH and the builders. Candido reiterated the fact that, as can be seen from the full ruling, she only took evidence from the Autonomic Police and the Juntas' technico. She did this and in her judgement, she states, that she only listened to their arguments, as they were impartial! This is a total falsehood as both the Autonomic Police and the Technico were instrumental in denouncing the TH in the first place. So how can they be impartial? He highlighted the fact that we had presented to the court 3 other technicos (architects in planning) and a professor who teaches judges and solicitors on planning laws, who would all have testified in our favour but she did not listen to any of them. These 4 persons who are eminent in their field would have given evidence to say that the TH acted within the correct norms in granting the building licences but she chose not to hear any of this evidence. This and other factors such as those listed in her judgement eg the fact that Calle Nervion has no tarmac roads, no lights, etc can easily be disproved by reference to Goolzoom.
Candido then informed me that the case which was due to be heard a couple of months ago regarding the 5 or 6 houses in Los Llanos (Calle Maimonides and Averroes) will be heard by the same judge as above on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of June. This is an even more farcical situation as the area that is being contested has been misidentified 3 times by the courts. At first the Autonomic Police were requested to visit the properties in front of Calle Abderraman. When they arrived they photographed the house in the above streets and then the court tried to open the indictments in relation to Calle Abderraman. A real cock up!
The next case to be heard after this will be one on 3rd to 6th June relating to some of the houses on the right before dropping down to the rambla in Cuesta de los Pinos. This however is to be heard by a different judge.
Lastly on the 14th June a 'new' case relevant to some houses in Los Menchones on the right before entering Arboleas. This is another case of stretching the law to suit political purposes, as this case has been heard in the civil lower court, the civil higher court and the appeal court who have all found in favour of the TH. So they are now trying to get it heard in the Penal courts!
Having been through this lot I was feeling depressed, however, Candido then told me that we have had some good news in that the first Penal case, which was heard against Anthonio of New Horizons (which was won) last May, had had its appeal hearing and they have again found in favour of the TH. Even saying that no misconduct could be discerned in this case. This decision was made just 3 days after the judge ruled in the Calle Nervion case and gives us even more ammunition for the appeal. I then spoke with the solicitors for the TH who advised that they are working through the video of the original case re Calle Nervion and they will lodge the appeal within the next 10 days and are very confident of success. This may take up to a year to be heard.
That was my meeting over but, I had been asked to stay, as a representative from the British Consulate in Madrid had asked to meet with the TH and they thought it appropriate I was in that meeting.
I have to say (I hope) that I was able to be of some use to our expat residents in being able to give a picture of how we feel and what we think of the current situation.
The representative who attended at the TH was Bernadette Gallagher, a section Consular from the British Embassy in Madrid. Present for the meeting were the chief solicitor for the TH and his No 2, the TH Architect Luis, the Mayor, Candido and the TH Secretary Manolo. Just prior to the meeting Candido and Kiko had asked me if I would be present to answer any questions and to give an expats view of the ludicrous situation regarding the court cases and the political nature of these.
The meeting gave Ms Gallagher an overview of the history of persecution experienced by Zurgena at the hands of the Junta over the past 7 years. During the meeting I was afforded a few opportunities to express our feelings and our hopes that in some way the Embassy (whilst I acknowledges that they could not interfere with a sovereign countries legal system) could bring some pressure to bear in such blatant political actions that we were suffering. I also gave her a copy of the court ruling re Calle Nervion and we demonstrated how biased that judgement was by showing her the ruling and then goolzoom pictures of Los Carasoles. She seemed as amazed, as I first was, at this ruling. The solicitors confirmed for Ms Galagher the facts, regarding these spurious court actions. It felt so strange to me that, here we were, in a small TH in Spain with 2 solicitors, 3 independent people and 3 politicians, all bar one of whom were Spanish, and we were effectively asking the British Embassy to help us!!
I do not know what the embassy will be able to do but at least to have them understand our situation made me feel better. I hope that some pressure can be brought to bear on regional or central government to help end this constant merry go round of baseless legal actions or to positively impact on our ability to get the PGOU agreed.
I, on your behalf, thanked her for coming, as I felt that most of us would be pleased know that someone outside now knows the situation and she promised to keep in touch. I felt that she listened intently and with some disbelief regarding the facts but I am sure she now has a good understanding of our plight
As usual if I have failed to explain anything to your satisfaction or you need anything further don't hesitate to email me at the above address or call me on my mobile 661147554.
As an aside, the budget for 2013 has been agreed, without reference to the sewerage works but things are progressing and we should have some news in the next few weeks.
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