Not a lot has happened over the past months in La Caleta, as far as the VPO’s go. Precisely for that reason, locals are worried about the construction cranes there.

There concern stems from the fact that these towering structures are not receiving any maintenance. Should one of them come down, not only are there occupied houses below it, but also a kiddies’ classroom.

Fortunately, one local points out, they are not fixed, so they turn with the wind like a weather vane, presenting less surface to the prevailing wind. If they had been fixed, then it would have been a greater danger, he considers.

Nuria Soto, the Chairwoman of the neighbourhood association for La Caleta, said, “On one of the cranes, a metal panel has come loose, but hasn’t fallen yet, but the noise it makes and how the arm swings is enough to frighten anybody.”

She also pointed out that the building work on the VPO’s (government-subsidized housing) came to a halt over two years ago. She also pointed out that the Town Hall has begun the requisite paperwork to have the cranes taken down, but she complains that the process is painfully slow – too slow, in fact.

The First Councillor for La Caleta, Irene Justo, assured that the Town Hall is working on it, but the legal process contains a series of deadlines that have to be reached before moving on to the next phase.

“First of all we informed their owners but received no reply, so then we began legal proceedings and are awaiting the judicial service to process it,” she explained. Anybody who has lived in Spain for a while will know that the Spanish judicial system is notoriously slow. However, she confirmed that as soon as they get the go-ahead from a judge then the Town Hall will set about dismantling them, using the bank-guarantee deposited by the company to finance the operation.

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