The Orihuela Council has demanded before the Valencian Superior Court of Justice (TJCV) its right to restore the 60 metres of the Avenida de las Adelfas road and the La Glea beach promenade in Dehesa de Campoamor, destroyed by the Dana storms of September 2019.
The road separates the north and south of the urbanisation and it’s 3-year closure means that drivers have to resort to less safe and much longer routes.
However, the provincial service of Costas alleges that the promenade and the road are on land that is in the maritime-terrestrial public domain, for which they are responsible.
The main municipal argument for repairing the road is that, in 1969, at the height of the Spanish tourist-economic boom, the Dehesa de Campoamor, with the road over the riverbed included, received authorization as a project of national tourist interest. It was subsequently recorded in the current General Plan for Urban Planning (1990), since which time there has been no objection at all by the State Provincial Coastal Service, to the maintenance of the public road or the promenade.
Orihuela council continues to state that the closure of the Avenida de la Adelfas road has resulted in “the rupture and isolation” of two areas of Campoamor, an urbanization with thousands of residents that has been divided into two parts, “to the detriment of residents, visitors and businesses located in it.”
In addition, the Council criticises the provincial service that interprets the coastal law differently in similar situations. In La Vila, Alfàs del Pi and Moraira, all in the province of Alicante, there are municipal roads or bridges over ravines, on the front line, that have authorisation from Costas.
The provincial service of Coasts has not yet responded to the legal action submitted by the Orihuela City Council, despite it being registered with the TSJCV eight months ago.
