Pleno Meeting 27th March

We held a Plenary meeting of the council last evening at 6.0pm. The points on the agenda were as follows, Regulation of the Tanatorio, Approval of the conditions and contract to be considered for the Tanatorio, establishment of beneficial taxation for the opening of local businesses, approval of municipal budget for 2014, modification of the project regarding the road surfacing recently completed, determination of internal fees and finally the decision to start the process over to apply for a new school for the village (this had been started previously in about 2006).

All these motions were passed although not without vigorous questioning and complaints from the opposition. I used to get annoyed at this as it seems so pedantic but I suppose it is important that the administration is fully held to account by the opposition even though it was after 9.0pm by the time we finished.

Kiko was unable to attend due to being in hospital for an operation on his arm, Sampo was away on travels and Ana also sent her apologies.

New Regular Bus Service

Announced today is a new regular daily bus service by Alsa as shown on the poster below.

Final Street Sign list

This is the final list for request for street name signs. I will ask them to order 2 of each. If any missing please let me know


Calle Dinamarca
Calle Diego Gerrado
Calle Averroes
Pasaje Canada del Herrero
Calle Albert Einstein
Calle Carl Von Linneo
Calle Sierra de Cazorla y Las Villas
Calle Austria
Calle Palencia
Calle Montenegro
Calle Rio Mino
And Palaces del Era (street name to be ascertained).

Archena Trip

The below detailed trip has been organised by the Town Hall. There are limited places so if you wish to go please put your name down asap. It will only be open to those who have a Spanish medical card.

PGOU & Street Signs

We had a lengthy meeting yesterday morning during which we went over our provisional PGOU. Those responsible for  drawing the plans up were there, including the main architect. He already had maps outlining all the areas and what we want to see as urban or urbanisable and including sewerage systems and pipework. We were basically checking that these plans reflect the areas and designations we want for the municipality and locating green areas and infrastructure etc.

The reason we hope to move things forward now is due to a decree which the Junta passed in 2012 which allows for the inclusion of areas under a rule of 'asentamiento'. Simply put this means that whereas previously, they would not accept any buildings which were built after 2000, they will now accept buildings, which are in existence. It still requires Plan Parcials for certain sectors which involves more work for the architect and all Camino Reales or Via Pecuarias have to be sacrosanct but we think we can draw up a plan which will be acceptable. Following this decrees' ruling we believe almost all properties can be incorporated into our PGOU and, the drawing up of this plan, has been done in agreement with the Junta and complying with their decree of 2012. Once we had finished with it the architect was taking it away to finalise it and he hopes to have it available for public examination and comment by the 15th April After which there will be  a 3 month period of consultation before it is submitted for approval by the Junta.  So we will hopefully have progress this year.

Secondly I have received requests for the following street signs to be ordered Calle Dinamarca, Calle Diego Gerrado, Calle Averroes, Calle Isaac Newton, Calle Carl Von Linneo, Calle Sierra de Cazorla y Las Villas, Calle Austria, Calle Palencia and Pasaje Canada del Herrero. This is the final time of asking if you or anyone you know has a street which does not have a name sign please let me lknow asap so that I can include it in the order.

Lastly the latest list of people who need to confirm they are on the padron are as follows,
Alan D J Bray,Rosalind J Ferrand, Christine Susan Filkins, Clive Filkins, Keith Porter, Jennifer Porter,Diane E Shaw, Joseph D Shaw, Jack C Smith, Jonathan M Such,Sadie A Such,Valerie A Veal.
I will try and contact thse individuals by telephone but in case I fail I am listing them here. If you know them please ask them to pop into the TH to confirm they should still be on the Padron. As usual it is purely a bureaucratic thing.

Tourism Fair in Zurgena

I called down to see how the fair was going this afternoon and to take part in the guided tour of the villages, which I had been told, and published on the blog, was at 5.0pm today and tomorrow for english speakers. I was wrong! The two tours which I am now informed were bilingual were at 1.30pm and 3.30pm and will be again tomorrow. My apologies to those who were disappointed today.

The fair has a tapas and wine bar provided by Catering Bonillo from Zurgena and a number of craft type stalls selling differing goods and wine and beer stalls, but I also found one interesting stall for La Posada del Candil in Seron and looking at it in the internet looks a lovely place for a night or two away, particularly if you like Seron ham!

PGOU & Bowling

Was it at the beginning of this week when I said it was going to be a quiet week in the Town Hall. Well I was wrong!!

We have had a number of issues around the bowling green which have required discussions between the contractors and ourselves, but I think, and hope, we have covered those off now. We also had a long discussion about the management of the green going forward and there are a few options which we will explore in the next days and weeks to make sure we get it right. We also need to discuss the monies needed and the ways of financing the additional equipment and infrastructure needed and how this should be financed. The most urgent from my point of view was a security fence around the green as it is too open to kids who will find it attractive to play about on, and we do not want that.

Secondly, today, we had a very interesting and optimistic meeting regarding the Provisional PGOU. The TH has, again, had a team working on this for the past few months and due to amendments to the law etc they have been working with the Junta. Our meeting today was to seek the support of the managing councillors to the approach currently being undertaken, with future meetings arranged to take this forward. All I can say at the moment is that things are continuing to look more and more optimistic. I will update the blog as and when I can release more information.