Los Higuerales to Zurgena Road

Sorry for late notification just been told that the men working on a part of the road between Los Higuerales and Zurgena is to be closed from 0800 today until tomorrow morning.

If there is to be any other road closure I am told I will be informed so that I can notify people through the blog. The Polizia Local have notified most of those residents to whom it will have most effect.

Wednesday 13th Feb Zurgena

At last I managed to sit down with Candido today for over an hour to go through things. I have listed below the issues that have been raised by you and the answers/situation regarding these below.

1. WiFi. I know many of you have contacted me regarding the connection dropping and less speed than paid for, however, when I raised this with Candido he said he thought all the issues except for some 10 to 15 individuals had been sorted. He said that as far as he knew as long as a good aerial was being used and the 3 meg package being paid for there should be no problem. I told him that I was not getting my 3 megs and was using the recommended aerial. he said that it would be best if he could test my signal through his email so we will try and do that next week and see what that throws up.

UPDATE, Due to the many emails and contacts I have had re this point it is obvious that the problem is more widespread than even I thought. I will try and get hold of Candido on Monday before he goes to court but if that fails we will have to fall back to the Friday thing, but I will make sure he knows the situation tomorrow in case there is anything he can do in the meantime, though I doubt it.

2. Result of Coiurt Case against Candido and others last month. I had been told by the TH that this case had been adjourned but others had told me that the technico had done a deal. I asked for clarification. It transpires that the case was adjourned as one of the defendants had turned up without a solicitor and that was why it was adjourned, however, the fiscal had started to address the court and explained that the technico (architect named as a defendant) had agreed to take some responsibility. Candido  does not think this is a good sign. In return for agreeing to plead guilty he will only get a fine. We have reasons which we think caused him to take this course of action but cannot publish.
Candido will be in court again regarding this case next week Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday. Then again with a case from Carasoles first week in March and then again mid march for a case from la Alfoquia.

3. The green area between Calle Sierra de Cardena and Sierra Hornachuelos which has a pile of Dizus rubbish. Candido informed me that that area will be tackled in the next few weeks they are working their way around La Alfoquia (pool bar area) and that area is next in line for cleaning. Certainly within the next month.

4. Two people have been asked by agents acting for them in their efforts to sell their houses to obtain an Expediente de Fuera de Ordenacion. I told Candido that I thought this seemed a stupid thing to be asking for and he agreed. Why would we, as a TH be issuing certificates to say that a property was outside of the area which we intended to include in our plans!!

5. Avenida Poetas. I asked what the situation was regarding this project as a number of people from the area had emailed asking why it had not yet been done. Candido confirmed that we had been succesfukl in getting it in the 2010/2011 budget for projects but that we are still awaiting the diputacion (who have the respoinsibility) to issue the contract. I asked if we could put any pressure on to speed it up and as old that the TH does every so often but the issue of the contract for this work is entirely down to the Diputacion we have done all we can and just have to wait.

6. Bowling Green. This will have to be argued for in the forthcoming budget negotiations which Candido thinks may be difficult with our coalition partners. This budget should be agreed and put before Pleno in the next month. He envisages difficult negotiations.

7. Some people have asked about kennels and whether they are licensed. If anyone is operating a kennels for profit, they need to have all sorts of official approval and tax accounts. The THs advice is if anyone considers such a business to be operating then they need to record their suspicions at the Town Hall in Spanish and he Policia Local will enquire.

8. The discussions that took place at the last meeting I was at where I lost the plot were clarified to me as a discussion about payment for the solicitors services and they have now been paid up to the end of December last year. We need to keep them onside to ensure representation for all of us during the ongoing cases.

9. The problems with the electricity and street lights. The TH electrician has been on holiday and this combined with the severe winds have led to a number of connections breaking and needing attention. He is  ow working his way around the area repairing these points.

10. Road to Ballabona from Palaces. The Diputacion have responsibility for this road and have a budget for both the temporary maintenance and the repair of this road but again that is in their hands.

11. There is no progress re the PGOU to report other than the Hydrological report is being completed.(I thought it had already been done) and will be submitted soon.

12. Sewerage plant at Cuesta de los Pinos. Again we are waiting for the funds to repair this. We have submitted an estimate of nearly €400,000 to repair the pipework and the plant. The TH at Antas and Pulpi together with all the villages of the valley are applying pressure to get these funds released as it is now accumulating waste in other areas. Candido said we needed also to argue for funds to cover this in case we do not get the funds from regional government and have to do something ourselves. Again will be subject to discussions in budget negotiations.

13. Track between Palaces and Solas. This track has had no attention since the floods and affects a few residents who used to use it. I told Candido about it previously but with all the more important routes it was overlooked. He promised to try and get someone to see to it even though there is no money we may be able to impose on a local builder. The road leveller machine has been taken away by the Diputacion and is no longer available to us.

14. The street plans are coming on well and I hope we can take them to the printers in the next week or so.

That was all from tday. As usual if you have any queries or comments please email them to the above email address.

Street Plans

Well, at least I am getting responses from Luis re the street plans. He has been working on them and has produced for me a draft for Cuesta de los Pinos. I have had problems circulating the draft or publishing it on the blog so I have listed below the street names on the plan. Please check that your street is shown, as I will go back to him next week and we should have a final copy for the printers to consider. I have asked that it be black and white with bolder contrast than the draft version.
The next area he is working on is the area around the pool bar and that should be ready in a week or two and I will similarly check with that one before we go to the printers.
The next area I have asked to be covered is Los Carasoles but, as there are a lot of streets in that area which are not, or ever likely to be streets, I will walk the area and ensure we delete those which don't exist to ensure people are not confused.
Following that we will do Los Llanos, Palaces, Los Menchones and Cucador.
I also left for Candido (I could not see him for the 2nd week of trying) a list of the streets, where you have reported lights out or in need of cleaning. I felt it was better to leave him a list rather than do nothing but I will chase this up again next week.
I still have my ever growing list of other issues for Candido and will just keep trying to see him.

List of streets on Cuesta de los Pinos street plan
Calle Albania, Alemania, Andorra, Austria, Belgica, Bielirusia, Bulgaria, Chipre, Croacia, Dinamarca, Escocia, Eslovenia, Eslovaquia, Estonia, Finlandia, Francia, Grecia, Holanda, Hungria, Irlanda, Islandia, Italia, Letonia, Liechenstein, Lituania, Luxemburgo, Macedonia, Malta, Moldavia, Avda Naciones de Europa, Calles Noruego, Polonia, Portugal, Republic Checa, Servia, Ucrania.

Meeting of Councillors

We had a meeting this evening to discuss some of the ruling councillors plans. These included the Civil protection unit (to be agreed in Pleno), Policia Local hours of work and coverage (to be considered by the councillors), and the decision to advance our plans for security cameras in certain locations of the municipality (again a matter for all ruling councillors to consider).  It was a general discussion mainly of similar security issues which Kiko was keen to made progress on. He was kind to me and allowed me bit of time to consider the issues and have input on them. There were a lot of other issues we touched upon but this was primarily a meeting to ensure agreement about the way forward and see that we agreed with these plans.

After this meeting there was another in the secretary (Manolos) office with Candido, the TH solicitors, Kiko and myself but his meeting became quite intense and I started losing the plot. It was obvious that it was discussion about the legal issues of licences etc but was too deep for me so I made my excuses and left. If there was anything which I missed I will clarify later this week.

It was not a meeting where the bits, I am trying to get answers to, could be discussed, that will (hopefully) be later this week. 

Cuesta de los Pinos Post box C2-B49-69

Unfortunately the front panel of the above post box has been blown off in the wind overnight. I have recovered all the post, to prevent it blowing away, and I have listed below those persons whose post I am in possession of. If you can contact me to arrange collection as and when. I will also try and contact you by email this is just to make sure all channels are tried.

I am trying to get hold of Metal Matt or another metal worker to repair the box. Once I know how much it will be to repair I will let those of you with boxes in this caseta know. If it isn't too much I will just pay it. I would be grateful if as people pass they keep an eye open for any further deliveries before we can get it repaired.

David Burns, G. Clough, Micheal Jones, D Jones, Brian Cynthia Tipper (including a notification of a letter to sign for), Colin Smith, Ian Johnson, Ken Willingale.


DOES anyone know of a good metalworker who we can get to repair it. It seems Metal Matt is not returning my calls. Whoever we get I would also ask to quote for the manufacture of 7 metal outdoor metal display cases (as this is something else I cannot get Matt to quote for) for our street plans. If no response I will speak with a local Spanish metalworker. Just thought there may be someone out there who wanted the work. 

Another Week another blank!

Been trying to speak with Candido since Wednesday, as he was at court Tuesday, but failed. Got close today he was standing next to me speaking to another chap for 30 minutes but then got a call from the Diputacion, who needed to meet with him, and so he was off. So sorry folks failed again! Will keep trying again next week. My list gets longer.

I did manage to speak with Luis, the tecnico regarding my request for street plans that we could take to the printers for housing in display cabinets in all areas. He has managed to complete the work on the first one (Cuesta de los Pinos) but there is more work involved than he first thought so we will try and progress them one at a time.

Court Case last Tuesday

The case last Tuesday was adjourned until  date to be set as someone did not turn up. You would think they would do like in the UK and issue an arrest warrant for someone who didn't turn up and just have the court wait.

Will try again today and tomorrow to see the other councillors.