Church Xmas Donation

This is a picture of the Christmas donations from the Church at Los Llanos del Peral to the Town Hall for the benefit of the needy. Once again they have excelled themselves in the charitable work. Thanks.
I will return to work next Tuesday.

Another Court Win for Candido

Click on the link to go to the report in La Voz. A great Xmas present for Candido and his family.

Candido wins another case

Harmony Donation

The ladies from Harmony Organisation presented to the Town Hall the grand sum of €1,000 for the benefit of the local schools. Seen in the picture are the Deputy Mayor Lola Antas receiving the cheque from Karen Revel and behind them is the director of the school in Zurgena Juan Francisco. The money is to go towards the timely provision of heating in 4 classrooms which are currently unheated!

Christmas Holidays

First of all may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and 2016, whether you are here in Spain or elsewhere.

This year has been quite an eventful one with the changes we have had to the administration but things are going well. We have not yet finalised Budgets for 2016 so I cannot say what ideas we have agreed for the coming 12 months. As soon as we know I will post.

We have yet to hear from the Junta de Andalusia regarding our PGOU but they do have until March 2016 to respond. We are continuing to try and apply political pressure on the responsible politicians

For your information Luis (our Mayor) is still suffering badly with conjunctivitis and I hope he gets better soon.

At our usual weekly meeting we added Calle Gualdalete to our list of tasks to be handled by the Town Hall. The necessary work, it is hoped, will be completed in the first 3 months of 2016.

I shall be on holiday from 21st December until 3rd January but will monitor my emails and remain in touch with the Town Hall.

If you are on our million step walk tomorrow (Saturday) at 4.0pm from the church in Los Llanos del Peral I will see you there. If not all the best.

The Town Hall will be closed Thursday 24th, Friday 25th, Thursday 31st and Friday 1st January.

Bus Update and 1,000,000 Step Walk part 2

We have now run the bus service for the markets on Fridays (to Zurgena) and Mondays (to Huercal Overa) for 6 weeks. This has shown that there is insufficient support for the Friday bus service and this will be cancelled after this Friday the 18th December. The Monday bus has seen greater support and we are in negotiations with the bus company to see of we can reach agreement on a sensible subsidy to allow this to continue during 2016. The last bus to run this year will be Monday 21st. I will publish the result of our negotiations.

UPDATE We have agreed to subsidise the Monday - Huercal Overa market bus for the first 6 months of 2016.
 IF there is sufficient interest in maintaining it.
What we have agreed to do is to pay the bus company enough to make the service economic (from the operators perspective) by making up any short fall in the cost. The price of the bus will rise to €5 return and will run until the subsidy runs out e.g. the more that use it, the longer it will run e.g. if more than a certain number use it every week we may even be able to run it until the end of the year but if less than a certain number do it will cease when the budgeted amount runs out.

1,000,000 step walk (part 2) is going to set off this Saturday from the church at Los Llanos del Peral at 1600 hours. I hope a few of you can make it. The last one was very successful and was almost exactly 50-50 of the two communities. If you do join us you may wear anything christmassy e.g. santa hat etc. Just to be a bit more festive.

An update on Luis our Mayor he has been off work a few days with extremely severe conjunctivitis. He hopes to be back to normal soon.

Xmas Market & Update on Outstanding Issues

There is to be a local Xmas market at the Renfe this Sunday from 1000 until 1800. This one is being organised by the Town Hall for local businesses etc.

I am now maintaining a list of outstanding issues which you have previously reported to me. I have updated my list with what the position is regarding these issues. For your information they are as follows,

Calle Finlandia. we have an outstanding application for funding for the repairs to this road from the monies available to Town Halls following the storm. This is an application which we should have a response to in the New Year and is one where the TH provides 50% of the funding and the rest comes from the Regional authorities. We should know about this by February. If we are unsuccessful in this application we will include in the Provincial Plan.

Calle Escocia (as above)

Calle Dinamarca (as above)

Calle Ulla (included in Provincial Plan)

Calle Mino (Local project to be undertaken January

Calle Holanda (we are looking at the options to either raise the surface to allow drainage or what else we can do. Again this will be subject to an application under the flood monies or if not then an application in the Provincial Plan.

Re the outstanding requests for clearing and tidying of green areas including Calle Adriano, Andorra, Nervion, Miguel de Cervantes, Carl Von Linnoe, Calle Mino. there are others and I am awaiting a list of these so I know which are included and which are not.

Area of Los Llanos del Peral around Calle Juan Ramon Jimenez street lights not working. We hope to have the boletin accepted and the connection reestablished in the next 10 to 15 days but that may be pushing it given the fact that we are approaching Xmas.

Calle Gerardo Diego drainage next week should be sorted.

Ada Cañada del Herrero We need to replace the heads of the lights and have a new boleti so it expected they will be connected and working in January.

The first load of tarmac has already been used up and so we still have a number of potholes to fill. I have updated this list with your reports. The next lorry load of tarmac will be available to us in January.

Regarding the situation with regard to the conifer trees obstructing the view of drivers on the stretch of road between La Vida and Los Llanos I have visited, with the Police, and discussed with the situation with our Secretary. It does create a danger and we are approaching the farmer with view to resolving this issue. One answer (which we are actively considering) is to create a cycle path all along that road (that wasn't my idea but I think it is a good one). If that does not happen then we will ensure removal of those trees which cause the greatest danger.

Regarding the wheelchair access around the villages we are creating a priority list of this and will task the workers with doing it bit by bit.

As usual any questions or issues please email me.

Million Step Initiative Part 2

Following the great success of part 1 of the 1,000,000 Step initiative where we had a 50-50 split in participants (Spanish to expats) of over 40 persons we are to hold part 2 during December.

Trying to identify a date and time presented many difficulties, due to the run up to Xmas, and the elections on the 20th December. Eventually we decided upon Saturday 19th December starting at 4.0pm from the Petrol Station in La Alfoquia. As it is so close to Xmas it was suggested that we give the walk a christmassy feel. So if you wish to wear a Santa hat for something seasonal then please do. The Spanish will also be wearing seasonal items.

NHW AGM and Postboxes

Firstly just a thank you to all those who attended the meeting yesterday to ensure the scheme can continue.

Secondly and due to the many new people who have moved into the area over the past few years I have a plea for those who still want a postbox to have mail delivered to in the Cuesta de los Pinos area. I know we already have 3 buzons side by side but I believe that there may be more than 6 people who could do with a box.

If you are one of those or you know someone who, maybe has just moved into the area, please ask them to get in touch and we will see if there are sufficient numbers to make it economic to order another. I did have a list of a few people but this is a bit out of date. I know I have now said this on more than 2 occasions but this is definitely the last time I will canvas and liaise to get a new box for this area so please please ensure any likely persons are aware.