Representatives of the FAOC (Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Orihuela Costa) met with councillors and their staff last week to discuss areas of common concern including the cleanliness of roads on the Orihuela Costa and the lack of facilities for sport.
The council was represented by Dámaso Aparicio, the councillor for Road Cleaning and Sports, along with Carmen Sánchez (Cleaning advisor), Emilio Martínez (Advisor for sport) and Modesto Veloso, Pedáneo de la Zenia, who attended on behalf of the councillor Luisa Bonè
The FAOC was represented by Lola Henarejos, Adolfo Hernández, José Manuel González, Francisco Javier Morales and Tomás Moreno
Cleaning Matters. The councillor admitted historical problems on the coast as a consequence of the population growth and the budget freeze. He said that he recognised that the coast needs more resources and more investment. He emphasised, however, that of the 180 people in his workforce, about 108 are dedicated to the coast. FAOC were not convinced that the data regarding numbers was correct. They said that they would investigate.
Budgets 2016. The road cleaning budget for 2016 has increased from € 8.8 million (2012/2015) to € 9.4 million, which gives a certain amount of flexibility that can be used to improve resources for the coast.
Budgets 2017. The councillor said that the draft budget for 2017 is in internal government use. He said that he expects it to provide improvements to the coastal allocation of both containers and of equipment
Planning. For two years FAOC have been demanding that a Plan of Coastal Action be drafted of which there is currently no such document. The councillor agreed with the need to establish such a plan.
Control. Given the size of the coastal area in comparison to the other districts there is a need to increase the current number of coordinators (2) which should be done by zones.
Summer 2017. The hiring of additional resources prior to the summer of 2017 will be doneallowing sufficient time for the workforce to begin on July 1, thus avoiding the serious problems that were encountered last year.
Pruning. FAOC said that there must be an improvement to the current service, an increase to the number of people employed in the task and to the amount of equipment in use. There is a need to treat the waste of professional gardeners separately to those of individuals. There was discussion about the possibility of creating a “Citizen Awareness Brigade”, which will personally notify residents who commit violations, as a preliminary step to police action.
FAOC Collaboration. FAOV offered their assistance in this matter through their network of members who cover most of the Orihuela Costa..
Monika Krause will be the FAOC member responsible for coordination with cleaning services,
SPORTS
The councillor stated that there is no investment available, at the moment, for the building of additional sports facilities although he hopes to be able to take staff on in the near future who will be put to work restoring the sports areas that have been abandoned.
He added that he would also be looking at the prices charged at the CDM (Sports Centre) in Play Flamenca and comparing them with centred at neighbouring facilities. FAOC said that they are currently much higher than both Pilar de la Horadada and Orihuela City.
Emilio Martínez has been appointed as the FAOC Sports representative.
