Anybody that has used the N-340 parking area in order to take the bus down to Playa Cantarriján will be pleased with its new, fully tarmacked, look.

However, there is a problem because the Junta, who had this dirt-surface parking area tarmacked, did not obtain permission from the Almuñécar Town Hall first.

In other words, the Junta went ahead and got the parking area ready for summer without the necessary paperwork.

It doesn’t matter, it seems, that it is a vast improvement, the fact is that the work carried out is illegal. According to the Town Hall a request for the building licence arrived on the 18th of July, but the work had already been completed a few days before.

According to the First Councillor of La Herradura, Juan José Ruiz Joya, “there is no excuse for not doing things correctly,” adding, “the Junta is is a stickler when it comes to getting permission from them to do anything.”

However, the Town Hall does not foresee taking any administrative action (fines) but instead calls upon the Ministry of the Environment (Junta) to obtain the missing licence without delay.

The Junta had no problem obtaining permission from the Central Government to carry out work next to a mainroad, which was issued on the 22nd of June but it seems, for whatever reason, permission from the Town Hall was not a priority for them.

The money for this project came from the EU, earmarked the conservation of natural spaces and it was a case of do it immediately or lose the funding; hence the Junta’s not waiting for the Town Hall to get around to issuing the building licence.

Editorial Comment: Petty-minded, administration clerks letting other administrative bodies know how important they are, puffing and tutting on the correct procedure. Red-tape at its most mindless.

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