In the race to get Plaza Kelibia in Almuñécar finished for Semana Santa it appears that the Town Hall bypassed the necessary steps, which the CA has been quick to denounce.

The problem with a town as old as Almuñécar, which dates back two centuries before the birth of Christ, is that you can’t turn a spade without having permission from the Provincial Cultural Board, in case there are archaeological remains. So, when it comes to laying pipes, which logically involves digging a trench, you have to have permission from this higher authority to commence work.

On top of that, it turns out that the palm trees which were cut down, worth about 1,800 euros each, were listed as protected – oops!

The Town Hall counters that with such high palm trees, if you started digging around their roots – very necessary considering the work that had to be done – the 8-to-10-metre trees would have been unstable and might have toppled and caused damage, or worse, flattened someone.

The Cultural Department up in Granada says that the permission sought was submitted on the 26th of October, but incomplete, so it wasn’t ready for consideration until the end of January. When the inspectors came down to have a look at the proposed site, they found that the palm trees had already been cut down and most of the square dug up. Furthermore, the digger was busy digging trenches, whereas an archaeological expert should have been on hand to supervise the earth moving.

On the 8th of February, the Chairman of the Mancomunidad, whose department was financing the new water and sewer pipework, visited the site but failed to make any statement as to the lack of permits for the work, which is hardly surprising as he is of the same party as the Almuñécar mayor.

The CA also complains that the revamping work going on in the square is financed by the Provincial Council, which is also headed by the same political party as the Mayor, with funds that were supposed to be used on rural lanes, etc and not on urban projects.

meanwhile, back at the Town Hall, the Mayor explained that there existed a certain harmony between the Provincial Council and the Regional Government (Junta), so much so that a special plan is being drawn up which would give a global permission to the Town Hall to carry out work around the town without having to apply for individual licences. This global permit would be controlled by periodic inspections.

The Mayor also admits that it had never crossed their minds that the palm trees would have been protected as cultural heritage. She said that it would have been impossible to get the trees out of the square intact as their was not way to get the necessary machinery, big enough for the task, into the square.

As a parting shot, the Mayor considers that it was remarkable that the previous Benavides administration should make this sort of complaint, seeing as it had no fewer than 17 denuncias against it for work carried out without any kind of permits, whatsoever.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, granada, Andalucia)