- This is my personal view about my much loved Orihuela Costa.
By Peter Houghton
The whole of the world is going to face a bleak period for several years, maybe 3, maybe 5 or even longer. Every few years the capitalist system undergoes a crisis. And we have now the increasing debt of many countries, the enormous debt of families, the climate conundrum and Brexit. On top of that we have the coronavirus.
Spain will face a terrible period but so will the country’s supplying the tourists and the people who buy the properties as well. As such I do not see many foreigners buying houses when they can holiday for cheaper, much cheaper costs.
But the crisis will affect some areas much more than others. Orihuela Costa is going to be affected terribly. If you go to other Towns such as Torrevieja, Javea, Alicante,…they have their problems but although we in the Orihuela Costa have many of the same problems, we also have many more such as the poor condition of the roads, the lack of cultural events (I am taking about a proper cultural centre with a library, music school, language school, place for cultural events as well), and the very poor services provided to the people with difficulties.
People find it difficult to walk on the pavement, more prone to a fall than to walk, there is no public transport, there are no cultural events and people with children will not register on the padron they receive no help for their offspring, and add to that how dirty and unkempt the whole area is, with inefficient services and flooding that will get worse, with 1000 houses built every year without the appropriate infrastructure.
We are all responsible as we do not register and those who can vote do not use that privilege. But more to blame are the builders who, instead of asking for services to sell their houses at a better value, are only concerned with building and seem incapable of considering the services needed.
If I were a builder I would ask the town hall to build a cultural centre, finish the emergency centre, construct the bridge over the AP7,…instead they face an enormous problem now.
Most of the people at some point will have to sell their homes. Expect to drop the prices heavily as we are in the middle of a transition period with a post capitalist system and the climate problem, which will affect the beaches, as well affecting our place and the value of our properties.
But the main blame, all 100% of it, is that of the Town Hall. Whilst we have provided 50% of the income to Orihuela, we barely got back 20%. And now with the crisis do not think they will suddenly realise how badly they have behaved, as we will get even less.
Orihuela Costa needs financial independence in the name of ENTE LOCAL MENOR. But will the builders understand the need to improve the services for our town? Many of them are running against a wall and they will crash their companies.
They should realise the importance in providing proper services to Orihuela Costa. And as the Town Hall is not going to do it, the only way is through an ENTE LOCAL MENOR.
Orihuela will keep spending as if they were LONDON or MADRID, when in fact Orihuela is number 78 in population in Spain and dropping. And owners of houses, if you keep ignoring the needs of Orihuela Costa, when the time comes to sell your houses, you will lose more than 30%, maybe more, of the actual price.
Now there are more than 5000 houses for sale. In a few months we will probably see that number double. The only way forward is to get together and fight for our Town.
