Sporting the slogan, You Don’t Gamble With Our Health, they protested in the said urbanización, Torrox Park one Wednesday last month.

The utility company, Endesa, has already begun building the sub-station, having obtained a building licence from the Town Hall in November. The installations are designed to guarantee an electricity supply for the municipality, which now has a population of over 20,000 inhabitants

This isn’t a new idea because it has been on the blackboard for almost two decades, so it is not as if it has caught anybody by surprise.

Those who oppose the project have formed a platform which includes several parents association from the local junior schools, El Faro and Mare Nostrum, as well as the Jorge Guillén high school, which is situated only 200 metres from the sub-station. In the area around a thousands local live, also. Two of the three opposition parties also back the protesters.

“Although they tell us that the sub-station is harmless they won’t show us the consultation reports because quite simply they don’t exist, ” explained a spokesperson for the movement, adding, “We have offered up to four different locations for the installations but they tell us that they are not good for it.”

What the locals are concerned about is that the sub-station, which includes two high-tension pylons, could cause cancer cases and other illnesses & ailments. Another concern is that for property owners there, the substation will affect adversely house prices.

The Mayor, Óscar Medina (PP), on the other hand, reiterates that the sub-station is harmless for people’s health, which has been demonstrated by a study carried out by the Universidad de Málaga, which confirm that electromagnetic emissions will be zero unless you are within 25 metres of the installations.

Summing up, they are not against a sub-station for the municipality — they welcome it, but they don’t want it next to them.

(News/Noticias: Torrox, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)