CALA MOSCA BECOMES LIVE ISSUE AGAIN

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Together with the Mayor of Orihuela, a Member of the European Parliament, Mr. Irazabalbeitia, visited Cala Mosca on 19 September.

Coming after a long and disturbing silence following the submission, organised by C.L.A.R.O. of 1,000 completed questionnaires to the Orihuela Town Hall during the public consultation on Cala Mosca in April this year , this initiative is to be welcomed.

For nearly 6 months people living on the coast have been wondering what follow up would be given to their suggestions for ways in which to save this emblematic green area on Orihuela Costa with the only remaining view of the sea.

The Member of the European Parliament who visited Cala Mosca is a member of the parliament’s influential Petitions Committee where Bob Houliston, more than 3 years ago, handed in a Petition organised by C.L.A.R.O. and signed by 7,000 people determined to prevent the complete urbanisation of this piece of virgin land with the building of 1,500 new houses and where two endangered species protected by European Union environmental legislation are also present.

Thanks to the petition organised by C.L.A.R.O., the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament and the European Commission have obliged the local and Valencian authorities to rethink the project, to submit it to public consultation and to require an environmental impact study. The public consultation has now been held and we are waiting to see the product of the rethink.

In press statements after his visit, while making it clear that he would do all he could to help to save Cala Mosca from wholesale construction and saying a public park to save the two species would be a solution, Mr. Irazabalbeitia said the local and regional authorities would play a decisive role in determining the future of Cala Mosca. For this reason, statements made by the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Orihuela were encouraging. The Deputy Mayor said that Orihuela Town Hall was negotiating with the Developer to swap land on Cala Mosca for building land in other areas of the coast and the Mayor said that in the new Master Plan for Orihuela which was being finalised, it would be possible to declassify land which had been designated for housebuilding.

The statements to the press are not the same as statements of official policy and C.L.A.R.O councillor Bob Houliston and Popular Party councillors have filed an official demand for information on the present status of the Cala Mosca project.

After the years of hard work in promoting the campaign to Save Cala Mosca, organisisng the Petition and the replies to questionnaires during the public consultation, years in which no other political party joined in to help, C.L.A.R.O. is determined to see the issue through to a successful conclusion.

We will be watching closely the actions of the Orihuela Town Hall as well as continuing to appear before the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee. We could be approaching the end game in relation to the very important issue of Cala Mosca.

We must save as much as possible of this remaining green area from being bricked and concreted over. For the enjoyment of residents and tourists, and for the sake of the two protected species, a snail and a plant, Orihuela Costa should have a big, open green area with views of the sea just as Torrevieja has achieved in Cala Ferris, only a few kilometres up the N. 332.

CLARO Press release

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/40744/

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