The Asociación Vecinos por Lobres is far from happy with the quarry in their midst because of the detonations, dust and unsociable hours of activity, not to mention dumper trucks hurtling through their streets.

We ran an article on this in our online edition at the beginning of December but things have not improved since then; hence on the 22nd of last month the neighbourhood association took another step.

But it’s not only the quarry causing problems in this satellite village belonging to Salobreña because the local junior school Colegio Cervantes has suffered a series of break-ins and acts of vandalism.

The Chairman of the association, Francisco Ruano, says that the company operating the quarry breaches the regulations for this kind of installations, as they should be situated at least 2,000 metres from housing, whereas the village school is a mere 400 metres away. Furthermore the Salobreña PGOU (General Urban Development Plan) states that this area cannot be used for building development neither is it marked as for industrial use. Instead, it is catalogued as an area of high level of visual landscape; i.e., natural beauty.

There was a general meeting between the residents of Lobres, the owners of the quarry and the Town Hall. It was put forward that a protocol be drawn up that would permit the quarry to continue with its activity whilst at the same time cause the least inconvenience for locals. For example the quarry would give advance notice of any planned blasting and for the company to lay water on the access roads to the quarry in order to keep the dust down.

Sr. Francisco Ruano said that all parties have agreed to meet again in the new future. He also pointed out that the associations long-term objective is to have the quarry closed down, or at the very least that it be allowed to continue its activity but under strict control.

As mentioned earlier in the article, they also want something down about the break-ins and vandalism taking place against the local junior school. Around mid-month December, for instance where thieves made off with computer equipment. Most of the time, the vandalism is caused by older school children returning in evening in the dark to hold botellones (bottle parties) and carry out graffiti and minor acts of vandalism. Despite the association having approached the Town Hall on several occasion about this, to date they have received no reply.

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