Orihuela Council Ignoring Foreign Resident Needs

The PSOE in Orihuela have been raising concerns over seemingly forgotten areas of the municipality, namely those outside the centre perimeter, with a predominantly foreign community.

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María García raised a notion on Thursday to try to resolve one of the most dangerous areas of the coastal zone, the lack of pavements in certain key areas along main roads.

In particular, concerns were raised over the La Zenia to Villamartin road, in the vicinity of the AP-7 motorway bridge, which still lacks any kind of pedestrian pathway on the Villamartin side, despite the opening of a pedestrian footbridge over the motorway during the last administration.

The motion called for the 2016 budget to provide funds to resolve this matter of public safety, and to coordinate with the police for better signs and signals to improve road safety.

García also pointed out that this is not the only area of the Orihuela Costa in need of urgent attention, and urges the coastal councillor to work with the infrastructure department to prepare a technical study of all municipal roads in the coastal area to design an emergency plan to remedy the shortcomings progressively.

Meanwhile, García has also criticised the coastal councillor, Sofía Álvarez, who also holds the competencies for urban transport in the municipality, for her lack of resolution in providing a bus service for the residents of Entrenaranjos.

Early this week, Álvarez explained that “we are waiting for response from the Ministry on the operation of the line”, as it is beyond the capabilities of the local team to make the decisions, and that the only reason that the service has not been put into operation is that the local government are waiting for ministerial approval.

However, in response to the reason for the delay, García has pointed out that “until Friday, that authorisation had not even been requested so the Ministry cannot approve something that has not been requested”, an unacceptable state considering it was in September that the route was first promised, some 5 months ago.