According to a new amendment to the municipal law that governs restaurant and bar terraces, (Ordenanzas Urbanisticas) those establishments that don’t have enough public pavement in front of the businesses to mount a terrace area, can occupy public parking space.

This comes as part of the new mayor’s drive to foster the business sector, and thus create local employment. The Mayor, Gonzalo Fernandez, had left the proposal on the table at the previous plenary meeting, hoping to achieve complete consensus with the local political parties, but decided to put the motion to the vote in the following plenary meeting, as the said consensus had failed to materialise.

This measure, which will increase the number of bar terraces in town, was approved with the abstention of the IU and a vote against from the PSI.

The IU say that whilst it completely agrees with the motivation behind the move, it believes that it should also take into account the rights of other citizens and tourism in general; i.e., for people to be able to use public pavements and parking. One should not be at the expense of the other.

Furthermore, the IU were surprised that after being on the point of agreement, implementing a 10-metre limitation, the Mayor introduced an exception to this measure for a private terrace on Avenida Mediterraneo just half an hour before the final plenary meeting. According to the IU, this private terrace had been set up illegally that weekend. The IU considers that this amendment is little more than a municipal law being set up around a last minute, private terrace; i.e., for the private benefit of its owner.

The PP said that they voted in favour, out of political coherence, as they had previously declared that they would support the municipal governing administration on all points that favour the creation of employment.

(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)