Today was the day of the March Pleno and as usual it was due to start at 12 noon but actually got under way at 12.20pm. Not bad! Sorry this is a long blog but I am trying to record everything that was discussed.
During the actual Pleno meeting a number of byelaws were passed these were in relation to;
1. The Vados (the licences to forbid parking outside garages). There are many Vados displayed but hardly any are legitimate as they do not have the correct licence and only bought the signs from the ferreterias. We have agreed a price for these licences and will be encouraging those people who want one to do so through the proper channel.
2. A change of name for a group of municipalities in Almanzora.
3. Rules regarding the enforcement of traffic rules across the municpality.
4. Reformation of Guarderia.
5. Pricing for dangerous animals including dogs. It has been agreed that the owners of any dangerous animals or dogs such as Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Dobermans and Argentinian hunting dogs would have to have licences for them. They would need to show that they had all the neccessary conditions met and have insurance. they then need to apply to the Town Hall for a licence which will cost €30 and then €50 per annum. Two dangerous dogs have recently been seized by the Police and taken to pounds.
There were other minor issues discussed but as usual my favourite bit is when we all go to the pub and we have a few beers. That is when the real issues are discussed.
My first question was to ask who decides what issues are listed to be discussed at the Pleno meeting. Candido explained that that was a good qurestion as up until now only he decided the issues and that in future all the PA councillors would meet prior to the Pleno and agree what we should discuss. I said that I thought it was important for that to take place and he agreed and that prior to the next pleno we would try and organise one. He feels that he should be delegating much more of the decision making process and to be honest I think he needs to. He has felt that he has not been acting in the best interests of the people because he has been so preoccupied with all the Court Cases and wants to get back to working properly.
My second question was whether the result of the elections would have any effect on getting a plan general agreed and did he see the possibility of getting such a plan agreed before the next municipal elections in 3 years time. He said that during the last general election in Spain PSOE had come out of it with a bloody nose in Almeria province they lost many thousands of votes acropss our area and he had heard rumours from Seville that realising what had gone wrong for them in this area was the whole issue of planning and he expects to see movement on that sooner rather than later. He is awaiting the appointmen t of the new person who will be in charge of agreeing Plan Generals and as soon as that isdone he will be seeking a meeting to pursue our plans.
Cuesta De Los Pinos & Los Menchones. I asked whether the Junta had appealed our case (in which the civil court had ruled in our favour) as I had heard from a solicitor acting for a resident near to my home that that was the case. Candido said he was sure no appeal had been lodged but immediately telephoned the Council's solicitor who informed him that a) no formal notification of appeal had been received from the Junta b) even if they did so now it would fail on two counts firstly as it was out of time and secondly there would be legitimate reason for appealing it. He advised me to inform anyone in that area or the area of Los Menchones NOT to waste money on solicitors as there is no likelihood of any further court action.
Jardines del Almanzora I asked why the Police had been issuing parking tickets to people who lived near the swimming pool last week. He told me that that was a matter for the Police but as he understood it the Police had been warning people for about fifteen days in that area andf that the tickets had been issued to cars which were parked on the pavements or in a position which could cause an unnecessary obstruction. I asked if he thought enough warning of this type of avction had been given and he conceded that they could have done more but that that was a matter for them. He has agreed for me to spend some time with the Polizia Local next week to go around the area and look at areas where we may need to consider lines etc to improve the traffic flow. I also asked why tickets were not issued during football days. He said that they were usually on a weekend and at the moment we don't have them working weekends. (see para at the end re Police)
Abandoned developement past Llanos del Peral. I asked if there was any possibility in the future of something being done with that. He said he did not know as the civil case has been heard and found in favour of the Town Hall but there was an outstanding criminal action not yet heard.
Street Lighting; I asked what stage we were at regarding the installation of street lighting across the area. He informed me that he had checked and Tisan had submitted the necessary paperwork for the street in Llanos Del Peral and the part of Los Menchones on the right when going to Arboleas and it has been requested of Sevillana to connect those streets. Unfortunately the area of Los Menchones to the left when going to Arboleas Tisan have not yet submitted the paperwork so he cannot ask for the connection.
Street Signs. Still awaiting delivery from manufacturer. Hopefully next four weeks.
Latest Project. I was aware that the Town Hall is putting together an application for funding for the next project. Candido asked me if I had any ideas I wanted including in the Project and if I had any to suggest them soon. I said that he was aware of the things I hoped to see in the project and these are covered by what he has proposed to include; street lighting and tarmac road for Palaces from the main road to the new developements, street lighting for the main road between Cucador and Llanos del Peral and including barriers at the most dangerous parts of that road, some other items from the manifesto and a bowling green. They have also included a request to remodel the area in front of the old church in Llanos del Peral. I asked if the public or I would get to see the project before it was submitted and was told that it has to go before a Pleno before submission so all can see it. I was unaware that I could make suggestions for inclusion in these projects but, now that I know, I can I will give it some thought in the future.
Finally if I have remembered everything, the Police. We had a general discussion about how best to deploy the Police and the structure of them. We felt it was best if we had one chief of Police and he would need to be available 24x7x365 but we need to calculate how to remunerate such a person. In relation to the other officers we need to have some plans in place for when they eventually are fully qualified (about June). I was trying to work out some suggested shift patterns when Candido said that we need to look at it a bit more closely as we need to find out if we need to pay them more money to work unsociable hours! I suggested we need to have cover at least up until midnight if not 1 or 2am and he agreed but we need to examine the options and the funding. He also suggest I arrange a day to spend with the Policia Local to discuss Parking issues, NHW, Pubwatch and any other ideas I have but not yet to discuss with them the hours of work.
I did get the very strong impressiion that he wants me and the other councillors to take more ownership of issues and alleviate some of the burden he is carrying. I said that I felt all along that he was not delegating anywhere near enough work. Again it came down to the pressure of all the court cases deviating him from what he wanted to achieve. Lets hope we can make some more progress with general issues in the community.
]]>Was disturbed at home last night at 9.0pm when a car was hooting its horm outwside my house. On investigation it was the Polizia Local with details of the next Pelno to be held this Friday at 12noon.
Hopefully I will have another opportunity to ask some questions after it as the list is buildingn up again. I had heard a worrying rumour that the Junta have appealed the decision regarding the Cuesta de los Pinos developement and that no 1st occupancy licences are beign granted for the new houses at Palaces so will try and clarify that situation.
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I had the opportunity today to get another update, whilst I was discussing a problem of water supply to 3 houses near Cucador, from Candido.
Firstly regarding the water supply he stated that if Galasa had any problems about the ownership of the land across which the supply needed to go he would happily give them a letter outlining th situation. The only issue was one of licences of 1st occupation for the houses two of which would have no problem as they were restorations but the thrid was a new build without a licence and that would cause a problem.
Secondly he was able to inform me that the licences of first occupation for the Socribo houses were being completed over the next few days today and would be sent to Socribo when they have faxed through proof of payment. Once that is done then residents should be able to get a copy. Porbably early next week.
Thirdly regarding Los Menchones he was still unable to be certain which houses I was enquiring about so gave me a number of quetions to ask the residents and that information should help us resolve the question of lighting and adoption by the Town Hall.
Regarding the letters issued to the residents of Llanos Del Peral he advised me to tell any and all those residents who had received letters NOT to engage a solicitor as they were 100% confident that the case would fail. The reason only Mena houses were sent letters was because when they (Mena) as promoters were sent the notifivation they immediately responded to the Junta by identifying the purchasers of each of the houses. The other promoters who may have received letters may not have infomed the Junta and therefore those occupants will not be aware of the action.
Regarding the road at the top of the Prodisa houses at Palaces and the street lighting for that area he informed me that these would both be included in the project currently being drawn up by the Town Hall for submission in a few weeks. They were looking for between €300,000 and €400,000 euros from Regional government to do this work as well as many other things such as fencing on dangerous bends, other roads and a bowling green. They have little money themselves due to no licences being issued and no tax` being collected.
I asked again why we were not paying our IBA tax on our properties yet and was told that the Almeria government were not letting us have access to the details of 1,500 houses which we should be able to tax. He hoped that this situation could be resolved in the next few weeks!
I asked about a petition that had been submitted by residents of Palaces and Cucador regarding noise from the clay pidgeon shooting range. He said that that was an issue that the councillors will need to discuss. He did say that he did not think the range would have the necessary permission as it is a business which impacts on the locality he (the owner) needs to have a form of permission which includes the agreement of local residents. He would obviously not get that. So it is another issue for the council to discuss.
On security issues I asked if he was aware of the Pubwatch scheme that had been established and I also asked if I copuld have an opportunity to speak to the Police about NWS, Pubwatch and how such schemes can assist the Police in intelligence gathering. He informed me that he intended to have a meeting with the Police in the next week or tow and I would be invited and couldsay what I wanted. Better get my thinking cap on!
I asked about an apparent vigilant called Martine who goes around the villages. He told me that Martine is like a Special Constable in the UK. He loves helping out in the community. He is a friend of Candido's and he was given short contracts by the Town Hall, when we had no Police, to assist at times of fiestas etc. He now gets an occasional 1 week contract for a fiesta which keeps him happy. He does not however have any authority whatsoever.
Finally I asked about the rumour going around the village that Candido has been sentenced to 9 months imprisonment, to be served when he ceases to be Mayor. I was assured that this was a load of rubbish. Spanish law does not allow for the deferment of prison sentences and inn any case not one of the cases brought so far has found any guilt against the Town Hall.
]]>Today I was able to have a meeting with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor for over an hour and was able to get a much better understanding of the issues surrounding infrastructure amongst other things. I did go armed with a list of 10 points but please forgive me I forgot to place a couple of questions which I will try and address as soon as I can.
Firstly I asked about recent cases which had been decided by the courts and I asked if I could be told which areas they were and whether I could make these decisions public. I was advised by Manolo that it would still not be sensible to publicize these cases yet as we now have more than 4 recently decided cases, all in the Town Halls favour, and others are being dealt with each week. They do not want to jeopardise these cases by crowing about their successes and causing appeals to be lodged. I told them that many people check the blog to find out what is happening on this point but they insisted that they felt better if I reassured people that all the cases so far to appear before the courts have found in favour of the Town Hall. They said that when they felt comfortable no appeals were likely they would let me know.
I asked about Barranco de los Pinos and the houses which had been taped shut by the Police near Cucador and whether I could give anyone interested in those developements any news and I was told that whilst the civil cases in relation to these have been or are being found in favour of the Town Hall the Junta also referred these cases to the Criminal Court at Huercal Overa. The problem with those cases is that they do not know how long it will be before the criminal cases will be heard. I pushed for them to give me some idea but they said they were unable to.
I then asked about the Socribo houses in La Alfoquia where the occupants are in the position of owing as much almost as they already paid for their houses and did not have licences of 1st occupation or electricity. It was explained to me that this particular builder had acted in an very dishonest way but that the Town Hall have continued to try and get the parent company (Socribo) to put right all the things they should have done, prior to the licences of 1st occ being granted. There had been issues with the water, street lighting, pavements, sewerage and other things besides the lack of an authorised electricity supply.Because the Town Hall were aware that the occupants of these houses had sunk a lot of their own money into trying to get things done, they were bending over backwards to try and facilitate the issue of these licences but they would not compromise on the electricity supply. That had to be installed authorised by Sevillana and checked by the Town hall architect and if all was okay the licences would be granted. This he said, would be done in the shortest time frame possible.
The next issue I raised was regarding the street lighting in the areas of Los Menchones, Palaces and Cuesta de los Pinos.
Firstly in relation to Los Menchones; Candido said he would check with the Boletins received to see whether the builder has done what was asked of him in relation to the lighting and other issues before he could sanction the connection and effectively the adoption of the developement by the Town Hall. He said that if the builder in relation to this area was Tisan then they had had similar problems to that which they had with Socribo. He agreed to look into it and if I had not got an answer by next Tuesday to raise it with him at my next meeting with him.
Secondly in relation to Palaces it was explained to me that the area I was talking about was one of the first in the Zurgena municipality to be given permission to build and the Town Hall were nieve about what they could and could not insist on builders doing, in the way of infrastructure in those days. They accepted, therefore, that this falls to the Town Hall to arrange and for them to pay for.
Thirdly in relation to Cuest de los Pinos; Manolo was disappointed and annoyed that New Horizons had not completed the installation of the lighting there as he had told them to get it done. I told them that nothing had happened since the 15th December and in fact the development looked much worse as a result of the preparatory work for the installation having been abandoned. He agreed to take it up with New Horizons. I was also shown a letter applying for a licence of 1st occupation from New Horizons which stated that the street lighting had been initiated!! Well at the least some of the holes had been dug!They will apply pressure to try and get that moving.
I also made a suggestion, from some residents near to me, that consideration might be given to Telefonica availling themselves of the conduiting going in for the lighting to make it easier to install phone lines. They seemed to think a very interesting and novel idea! They did agree to mention it in dealings with Telefonica.
I also asked what was the situation regarding our 3 new Police Officers. I was advised that they started back in the village this week. They are still to some extend under training until June but will be available for some duties in the area until then.
Lastly I informed them of the content of the below paragraph which I had forwarded from a coordinator in Arboleas which kind of goes to show what we are up against.
"Illegal Houses
--- Before seeing Ángel, I tackled the Mayor (Francisco Miras). He assures me that there are no illegal buildings in Arboleas (not even on the edge of the Rambla, for example).
--- He emphasised the importance of the fact that his is a PSOE administration - so there is a very good 'understanding' with the PSOE government of the Junta in Seville. That is of course consistent with the point made by James Simpson in his article in the current issue of The Messenger (page 6). Nevertheless, it was an eye-opener to have it shamelessly admitted by a PSOE Mayor."
Both Manolo and Candido laughed and they intimated, not that they were surprised, only that the mayor would openly make that statement.
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