We managed to collar Francisco Prados, who is the leader of the local PSOE and opposition leader, concerning the Blue Zones in Almunecar. He confirmed that in the first Plenary meeting of the Town Council it was agreed to reduce the Blue Zone timetables, although not as much as his party had proposed.

As it now stands, four hours have been knocked off the beach parking areas; i.e., the paseos: instead of running from 11am through to 11pm, 7 days a week, which was bloody ridiculous, to say the least, the new hours are from 10.00am to 2pm and then from 5pm to 9pm (or if you prefer the 24h clock system 10.00h to 14.00h & 17.00h to 21.00h).

Furthermore, on the beach/paseo areas, you can now stay for up to 6 hours, meaning that you don’t have to jump up every couple of hours, if you’re trying to relax on the beach.

With the 4-hour break at midday, it also means that you can also relax in a restaurant and eat without fretting over the bloody blue zone limitations.

Paco Prados told me that he had called for Sundays to be free, but the company that runs the Blue Zones wouldn’t hear of it. Unfortunately, the town authorities have their hands tied by the contract that was signed between the previous administration and the private company, so the only way to force the elimination of Sundays would to be to pay compensation to the company and there just aren’t any funds.

We have an interview lined up, after the summer, with the new Mayoress, Trinidad Herrera, so we shall be bringing up the Blue Curse…

The local Spanish-language, newspaper, Costa Tropical, which many consider to be ‘considerably favourable’ to the ex-mayor, gives emphasis to the claim that the Mayoress had gone back on her election promise to completely abolish the paseo Blue Zones, as well as the ones on Avenida de Europa, and states that proprietors of businesses, such as the chiringuitos along the Paseo de Andres Segovia in La Herradura had requested the installation of the Blue-Zone system along the said beach road to the Benavides administration.

The tourist sector of Almunecar; i.e., the main income for the town, anxiously awaits to see if the visitors who had felt ‘rejected’ and ‘turned away’ by the previous Town Hall Council will spend their holidays in Almunecar and La Herradura – it’s already the 20th of July but it is still too early to decide.

(News: Herradura/Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)