The Orihuela City Council must first reach an expropriation agreement with the Bellavista community of owners
The Provincial Coastal Service has finally authorised the Orihuela Council to reopen the passage that connects the Aguamarina pedestrian path with La Caleta in Cabo Roig, which was open to the public prior to being closed by the Council in December 2021 in compliance with a court ruling.
The closure forced pedestrians to take a detour of two kilometres to pass around the section of only 60 meters in order to reach the beach or to continue along the coastal walkway, causing hundreds of complaints from residents and holidaymakers alike.
The authorisation comes after councillor Ángel Noguera, who was dismissed from his council position just last weekend by the mayoress, Carolina Gracia, submitted a request to reopen the promenade next to the Bellavista urbanisation last January, after expropriating the land from its owners.
In February the Provincial Service sent the Council’s request to the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Public Works and Mobility, accompanied by the mandatory report, and their support to reopen the walkway, and a few days later the Ministry granted authorisation for the connection to be re-established.
The Provincial Service has now favourably resolved the part of the project related to the land that is located within the transit easement zone, with the conditions that the action be carried out in accordance with the documentation presented in January, and carried out within a maximum period of one year from last March.
However, sources from the government team explain that the construction project must first go through the plenary session and then reach an expropriation agreement with the community of owners.
Other sources indicate that the Council has already offered a fair price of 66,000 euros, while the owners have asked for 2 million euros, as well as a million more for the developer of a plot on the other side of the promenade towards La Caleta.
If an agreement is not reached, the price will be decided by a court of arbitration, something that could later be appealed, which would paralyse any work being carried out.
The walkway was approved before the Law of Coasts and the PGOU in 1990, which provided that the first line was of public property, however, the Council at the time did not expropriate the section that gave continuity to the promenade along the entire coastline.
The residents of Bellavista then built a wall in 2013 to close the path along the sea front with some extending their gardens.
Two years later, following an extensive campaign by The Leader, the former Town Planning Councilor, Antonio Zapata (PSOE), ordered its demolition, a procedure that the courts subsequently declared illegal. Hence, it was then forced to restore the wall to its original state in December 2021, closing the walkway once again.
Councillor Rafael Almagro (PP), announced that based on the general interest the administration had applied for expropriation, stating that the matter would be resolved with the passage reopened before the summer of 2022 .
At the same time, the Councillor José Aix (Cs) stated that the expropriation “should have been resolved a long time ago”. More recently, last December the Deputy mayor said in plenary session that he would like it to be reopened prior to Easter 2023.
The Cabo Roig y Lomas Neighborhood Association stated that “The walkway is still closed today, so during Holy Week there have been countless people who have had to turn around when they have reached the end of the Aguamarina promenade, where it meets the Bellavista urbanization.”
The Association added “it would be really unfortunate for the residents of the coast if this pass continues to be closed next summer”, so in the plenary session to be held in April they will ask Aix what steps the Department is going to take so that the expropriation is concluded as soon as possible to ensure that this walkway can be reopened once again before the summer.
