The latest Plenary Meeting of Motril Town Council approved a motion to segregate Carchuna-Calahonda from Motril so that they can be independent.

The ELA (Entidad Local Autónoma) which is a semi-independent arrangement, was set up in 2005, meaning that taxes generated in these municipal dependencies would go directly to them, instead of being heaped in with the general Motril budget – there had long been a complaint that taxes collected there were being spent on and around Motril instead.

The system worked but with these dependencies having to hire members of the Motril Policía Local because they couldn’t afford their own. However, when Torrenueva Costa, (lying between Motril and Carchuna-Calahonda), gained its independence in 2018, it made little sense for the latter to still be attached to Motril.

This situation was further exasperated during the Covid Lockdown because technically people from Motril and Carchuna-Calahonda could move within their joint municipality but Torrenueva Costas couldn’t move outside their own municipal boundaries. How were people from Motril or Carchuna-Calahonda supposed to move freely without passing through Torrenueva Costas?

Anyway, in March this year the two dependencies urged the Motril Town Council to unanimously begin (yes, a split infinitive) the independence process. Furthermore, the minimum population requirement was lowered by 1,000 to 4,000 bringing them within the bracket.

And as mentioned above, that is precisely what happened in this latest Plenary Meeting of the Motril Town Council. The ball’s rolling…

(News: Motril/Carchuna/Calahonda, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)