Agenda21: On fire aftermath and management, drought, EU, youth centre, Saladar and swimming pool
Chris Jones
a collegiate body of participation of the Javea Town Hall, of a consultative, informative, advisory and recommendatory nature and for the promotion of initiatives relating to the supply, sanitation, purification and reuse of water in the municipality
Chris
Swimming pool for Xàbia gets one step closer
Sept 26th
The Valencia Government has committed to provide funds for a swimming pool for Xàbia. The first step will be its inclusion in the budgets of the Generalitat for 2017. With this first funding will cover the tender and drafting fo the project. Then in 2018 budgets, there will be funding necessary for its construction. From: Levante Ed's note: In 2005, Valencia promised a pool if Xàbia built a trinquet court. The Town fulfilled its half of the bargain, but had no joy in relation to the pool. from more see: July 2015 News Headlines
The Valencia parliament closes the door on Saladar development project
Sept 26th
An ambitious development project promoted for the Saladar area by its 97 land owners has been stopped by a change in the law in Valencia. The project, on a flood prone wetland and the last development area along the Xàbia coast, consisted of a thousand houses and two luxury hotels in the creation of a "City of Sport" with finance from a British investment fund. The law of 1993, which only protected properly catalogued wetlands, (hence leaving the others as prey to developers) now covers them all, officially catalogued or not. The change in the law also conforms to a number of court rulings that a wetland is a wetland, whether it has been catalogued or not. From La Marina Plaza For background on the controversy see: Saladar
Old Police Station to be a Youth Centre
Sept 21st
The Xàbia Department for Youth, directed by Ximo Segarra, is converting the old Local Police station (in Plaza de la Constitución) into a Youth Centre for training and leisure. The design and features of this new area were decided following a survey that the Department conducted in June. (From Mayor Chulvi Facebook)
Residents whose properties were badly affected by the Granadella fire have a fiery meeting with town hall
Sept 21st
Sparks flew at the meeting between residents and local and regional officials on September 19th. The limited types of state aid were explained and then the issue of abandoned, uncleaned plots and their contribution to fire damage was hotly debated. The surreal issue of having to pay for a minor works license to fell a burned tree in one's incinerated garden was raised. For English versions reports on this meeting see: Meeting with residents after Granadella fire Note: On Sept 21st the mayor made the following announcement "Xàbia has suspended by mayoral decree the rate of minor work for 30 days. This way we avoid that the owners that have to do cleaning chores at the plots affected by the fire should pay any municipal canon. The suspension will run from September 26th to October 26th." Also reported in La Marina Plaza
Town Hall issues statement explaining the Ramblars fire
Sept 21st
In view of the amount of mis-information going around about the smouldering Ramblars fire, Xàbia Town Hall decided to issue a statement explaining that this type of fire, which was smouldering without oxygen within a huge pile of plant matter could not be extinguished by water. Nor can it be removed by heavy machinery, since this would only cause it to burst into flame again. The only solution is to allow it to burn until all the vegetable matter has been consumed (a matter of a few more days). A safety perimeter had been establsihed to prevent the fire spreading to forested areas. For full statement see: Javeamigos
Meetings on forest management and aftermath of fires
Sept 20th
Municipalities including Xàbia and Benitatxell affected by recent forest fires had meetings with officials for the Valencia Government to assess management of fires and measures that need to be taken in the future. Mayor José Chulvi said that "the priority must be the management of the forest and, above all, of the homes located next to forest areas. Administrations have to coordinate and get involved in cleaning as well as in creating effective evacuation plans. Xàbia is a town of 68 square kilometres with a large forest area and we need to balance environmental protection with the security of people and property." Immediately after the first meeting, Xàbia was to host a meeting of the Governing Board of the Diputación de Alicante to explore ways to coordinate their efforts in prevention and in creating security plans for the urbanized areas. These plans and the work that would be done, will complete the important recent work of adapting public spaces owned by the Ayuntamiento. About 200 residents affected by the fires also met to hear firsthand about financial assistance which will be available from the Government in an open meeting at the Sala Polivalente in Portal del Clot. For full story and more details see: Javeamigos
Spain reflects on 30 years in the EU: From poverty to prosperity, Brussels put up the cash and Spaniards brought the ideas
Sept 19th
Back in 1986, when Spain became a fully-paid-up member, two-thirds of workers were in the agricultural sector, and had no Social Security provisions, meaning no State pension or sick pay. Rural dwellers often had no electricity or running water, relying on wells; just 10 years previously, its black-and-white TVs only had one, State-controlled channel which lauded Franco in every programme, and by the time of its EU entry, still only had two channels. Roads were potholed, cracked, dangerous and often missing - motorways did not start to appear until the 1980s or 1990s - and its GDP was less than half the EU average. The difference in 30 years is palpable…for full, in depth story see:Think Spain
Reservoirs have lowest water reserves since 2008
Sept 19th
The summer season has caused a 30% reduction of the quantity of water held in reservoirs in the region and they now stand at a quarter of capacity. If there's no significant rain before next spring, the reservoirs could become dry. Two river systems have an emergency status: The Rio Serpis and Marina Baja, while the Marina Alta's status is high alert. Apart from shortages of drinking water, high temperatures, pests and lack of rainfall have had a negative effect on crops: vines down by 30%, almonds 40%, carob 30%, olives more than 50% ( something branded as "catastrophic"), cereals between 20 and 50% (depending on the area), and honey 20% down. From: Las Provincias.
Costa Blanca to host Full-time coached packages for athletes and triathletes
Sept 19th
Spain is officially the sunniest European country and the Costa Blanca has been declared to be amongst the healthiest in the world by the World Health Organisation. With an average of over 300 days of sunshine every year the area if almost guaranteed to be bathed in sunshine when the N Europe is wet, windy and icy. With the climate, it is surprising that the area is under-utilised as a base for year-round training by many athletes. In a collaborative venture, this is about to change with a programme of training that will be open to a limited number of European triathletes and athletes who would like to live and be coached in the Costa Blanca: From: TriAthlete Europe
Mobile refueling unit provided helicopters more firefighting time
Sept 19th
In a pioneering move made during the Granadella fire, the Diputación de Alicante arranged for a fuel tanker to be based in Jávea so that its two firefighting helicopters could refuel quickly and easily. Each helicopter could fly for 2 hours. The refuelling facilities at the Cocoll base (Castell de Castells) were too limited for this size of fire, so they would have to go to Mutxamel and back to refuel, a round trip of one hour. The upshot of using mobile refueling in Jávea was that these two aircraft were able to provide 50% more firefighting time than those provided by other emergency services. The local Surveillance and Rescue Society (SVS) company provided the land for the landing and re-fueling of the choppers. From La Marina Plaza.
Pinosol provides important imformation on wilfires in urban areas in Spain
Cypress fire-resistance a myth
Sept 16th
The affected area of the Granadella fire outlines a unicorn head. The main part is woods and scrub, but the horn of nearly two kilometers consists of rows of houses in the Pinosol urbanisation, extending to Capsades. Raul Quílez, wild fire expert who works at the international level in the scientific analysis of these disasters stated: "I believe we are faced with possibly the greatest progress in Spain of a forest fire in an urbanized area. The private gardens functioned as wicks, spreading fire generated by the sparks of the main front". Certain gardens are combustible: unpruned palm trees, heather fences and cypresses hedges gave continuity to the fire. The fire highlights the absence of planning with villas being built next to the mountain without the minimum security zone free from vegetation. It also shows the limited self protection capacity of some owners. People had seen the famous image of the cypresses of Alcublas that had been spared from the fire of Andilla and there is the myth that this species is fire-resistant. But in that fire they were saved by other factors such as the terrain".In Xabia, people had surrounded their gas tanks with Cypress fences in the vain hope of protecting them, but the cypresses burned, and so did the gas tanks. From: Las Provincias
Spain could be first EU country with national park listed as 'in danger'
Sept 16th
Doñana is an Andalusian reserve of sand dunes, shallow streams and lagoons, stretching for 540 square kilometres (209 square miles) where flamingoes feed and wild horses and Iberian lynx still roam. But the Doñana region is said to have lost 80% of its natural water supplies due to marsh drainage, intensive agriculture, and water pollution from the mining industry. Spain now has until 1 December to declare Doñana permanently off limits for dredging and industrial activity in a report to Unesco, or face becoming the first EU country to have a national park classified as being “in danger”. For full story see: The Guardian.
UK Immigrants in Spain - the forgotten voices
Trailer of a forthcoming documentary.
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Cullen Hightower