Guardamar’s Lemon Tree Market is to stay open for the time being after the court of Contencioso-Administrativo (Administrative Litigation) suspended the planned closure after an earlier decree from the Supreme Court ordering it shut down for not having a license. Guardamar mayor, José Luis Sáez, reported the suspension on Monday, after the council and market bosses had had a series of meetings to legalise activities at the site.
Earlier this year, a manager of another local market threatened to take legal action against the council for not enforcing the Supreme Court order against the Lemon Tree Market which has been running without a licence since 1993. The Court ruled in February that public interests were not served by it continuing, but the closure notice was not enforced by the previous Partido Popular-run council in Guardamar. The new PSOE mayor, José Luis Sáez, said this week: – “We are fully aware of the problems that the possible closure of the market could cause, but we can’t forget as well that it is the responsibility of public officials to comply with the law. We are continuing to work on seeing that activities on the market site are licensed”. The council were set to enforce the Supreme Court ruling earlier this month, with market spokesman Juan Fernández claiming that 700 families depended on it for their livelihood.
But with good news for the market, comes bad, with a Torrevieja investigating judge saying that there was evidence that market bosses were irresponsible for letting septic tanks affect the La Mata lake. The environmental department of the Guardia Civil, SEPRONA, has been investigating reports of waste discharges in the area and took samples away in November 2014 for analysis. The judge concluded that it was highly likely that an environmental crime had been committed with further legal measures pending. He also noted that the market was being run without an appropriate license.
