Tuesday, October 31, 2006
THE MAYOR OF MONÓVAR IGNORES VALENCIA OVER URBAN DEVELOPMENT
After the recent action over the Catral illegal houses, British residents press Monóvar's mayor to follow the advice of the Valencian minister of territory and housing.
In a televised council meeting British resident Stewart Muir asked the mayor, Salvador Poveda, why he is continuing to pursue four macro-urbanisations and three golf courses and an aerodrome when the Valencia Conselleria had previously given the town hall clear written instructions to 'avoid dispersed urban developments and to 'maintain the model of a compact town'.
Interestingly this information from the Valencia Conselleria was revealed in a letter from the new minister Estaban González Pons to Stewart Muir & Joyce Robson, who represent a group campaigning to save Monóvar from Urban Abuse. Stewart Muir explained "we wrote to the minister in June giving eleven reasons why he should reject the plans from Monóvar town hall. Amongst these reasons was the massive environmental impact of 6,500 houses and the over-exploitation of Monóvar's underground water supply". In his reply González Pons informed the campaigners that his office had not received any urban plans from Monóvar town hall for approval. Neither had he received a General Plan for the future development of the municipality or any individual plans. Furthermore he went on to quote what advice had been sent to the town hall back in 2005 to 'avoid dispersed urban developements' and to 'maintain the model of a compact town'.
Stewart Muir adds "González Pons did not need to give us all this information. We hope this is another example where Valencia is trying to clean up its public image. In which case they should go further and, like Catral, they should remove the licensing powers from Monóvar town hall for plotting urban development that infringes the written authority of Valencia, not to mention European Directives"
The first two macro-urbanisations, PAI Boticaria and PAI Mayorazgo, that had been approved by the majority council in Monóvar on the 18 May, cover an area of 6.5 square kilometres of agricultural land to be reclassified together with two golf courses and an aerodrome. "We handed out a letter to all the councillors making them aware that if they vote in favour of these massive development projects, knowing that the water supply from the El Carche/ Salinas Aquifer has only nine years remaining at the current usage, they would be acting negligently, and would jeopardise the future of the existing agriculture and population of Monóvar"
Then on 5 October the town hall voted to put out for tender two more countryside urbanisations, PAI Secanet and El Belich and another golf course. "The situation is very worrying. By doing this the town hall is squandering our remaining water and devastating vast areas of the inland Spanish countryside " says Stewart Muir.
At the meeting in the reply to the questioning of Stewart Muir the mayor said that "only los monoveros are the owners of their destiny".
Joyce Robson adds "we are going to continue the fight to save Monóvar because we live here and are los monoveros too. We wish to be joint owners of Monóvar's destiny"
STEWART MUIR & JOYCE ROBSON
Monóvar. 687-711-137
stewartmuir@clara.co.uk
After the recent action over the Catral illegal houses, British residents press Monóvar's mayor to follow the advice of the Valencian minister of territory and housing.
In a televised council meeting British resident Stewart Muir asked the mayor, Salvador Poveda, why he is continuing to pursue four macro-urbanisations and three golf courses and an aerodrome when the Valencia Conselleria had previously given the town hall clear written instructions to 'avoid dispersed urban developments and to 'maintain the model of a compact town'.
Interestingly this information from the Valencia Conselleria was revealed in a letter from the new minister Estaban González Pons to Stewart Muir & Joyce Robson, who represent a group campaigning to save Monóvar from Urban Abuse. Stewart Muir explained "we wrote to the minister in June giving eleven reasons why he should reject the plans from Monóvar town hall. Amongst these reasons was the massive environmental impact of 6,500 houses and the over-exploitation of Monóvar's underground water supply". In his reply González Pons informed the campaigners that his office had not received any urban plans from Monóvar town hall for approval. Neither had he received a General Plan for the future development of the municipality or any individual plans. Furthermore he went on to quote what advice had been sent to the town hall back in 2005 to 'avoid dispersed urban developements' and to 'maintain the model of a compact town'.
Stewart Muir adds "González Pons did not need to give us all this information. We hope this is another example where Valencia is trying to clean up its public image. In which case they should go further and, like Catral, they should remove the licensing powers from Monóvar town hall for plotting urban development that infringes the written authority of Valencia, not to mention European Directives"
The first two macro-urbanisations, PAI Boticaria and PAI Mayorazgo, that had been approved by the majority council in Monóvar on the 18 May, cover an area of 6.5 square kilometres of agricultural land to be reclassified together with two golf courses and an aerodrome. "We handed out a letter to all the councillors making them aware that if they vote in favour of these massive development projects, knowing that the water supply from the El Carche/ Salinas Aquifer has only nine years remaining at the current usage, they would be acting negligently, and would jeopardise the future of the existing agriculture and population of Monóvar"
Then on 5 October the town hall voted to put out for tender two more countryside urbanisations, PAI Secanet and El Belich and another golf course. "The situation is very worrying. By doing this the town hall is squandering our remaining water and devastating vast areas of the inland Spanish countryside " says Stewart Muir.
At the meeting in the reply to the questioning of Stewart Muir the mayor said that "only los monoveros are the owners of their destiny".
Joyce Robson adds "we are going to continue the fight to save Monóvar because we live here and are los monoveros too. We wish to be joint owners of Monóvar's destiny"
STEWART MUIR & JOYCE ROBSON
Monóvar. 687-711-137
stewartmuir@clara.co.uk
Comments:
Post a Comment
