July 2010

Hello again.  First of all I would like to thank every one who attended our Quiz Night at Atilla’s.  A great night was had by all and we managed to raise over 500€ for our war chest.  Special thanks to Paul and Jo for allowing us to hold the event at Atilla’s and to Pauline for organising it.

As I mentioned in last months column we were invited by Rosa Urioste Azcorra the replacement for Ana Moñiz as Director General of Inspection of Land Management, Urban Planning and Housing to meet with her in Sevilla.  The meeting was very positive and clearly the mood at the Junta has changed and the tone is much more re-conciliatory.  She told us that the problems of the Axarquia are different to the rest of Andalucia.  Here the irregular houses are individual villas, not the illegal housing estates with hundreds or even thousands of houses.  They intend to use Alfarnate as a model to see what can be regularised in line with an agreed Plan General.  She also welcomed the opportunity to work with us and a further meeting has been arranged for September.

Did you know that the only authority who can issue a building licence or carry out a demolition is your local Ayuntamiento.  So, on that basis, the people who control the council play a very important role in our lives and, therefore, we should be directly involved in saying who gets to sit on the council.  The foreign residents of Spain have a responsibility to vote, after all, if you you don’t vote how can you complain about how your town is run.  To this end on the 14^th July at 7.30 at the Camping Bar we will be holding a public meeting which will include a workshop on the voting process here in Axarquia.

See you there!