Jávea
December 3, 2017
Dear Editor
In April 2016, Jávea announced with much publicity that they were getting tough on owners of messy plots and sent 200 letters to landowners. Twenty-three acted on the notice. What follow up was done, if any? Perhaps it was just a windy day in the Ayuntamiento. Box ticked and no further action!
Since then we have had a devastating fire in September 2016 that burned property and surrounding woodlands. In December 2017, we are still waiting for action and suffering the consequences of inaction.
During the last few weeks, our neighbourhood has suffered numerous power cuts due to trees falling on power lines. The mayor tells me that the council cannot go onto private land, yet the last tree to fall was on land that belongs to the council! Others are on private land and although ‘denuncias’ have been made, nothing has been done.
The search for land ownership has been passed to the police, but when I enquired at the police station during the summer, I was told that they were too busy dealing with tourists, and perhaps in November…
Well November has come and gone and there has still been no progress. I have been told that there is only one person to do the searches. Who and where they are I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem to be a matter of urgency.
How long are we going to have to live with the results of fire and negligence on these plots?
It will be interesting to see how long it is before the fallen tree is removed from Pou Dels Albanells or whether the council will ever clean up their site on Carrer Donzella.
Why can’t the council clean up their own plots, and then start on the private ones, first with a public notice, and then doing the work themselves and billing the owners for the work done – even putting a charge on the land or confiscating it if there is non-payment?
What a chance missed in Pinosol Park – a local artist asked to be left tree stumps so that he could carve them. He has done a wonderful job, but now the area is becoming weed-infested and overgrown. If the council had tidied it up and planned a route through the sculptures they would have been a shining example of what could have been achieved; instead, it is a poor reflection on a council who doesn’t seem to care what happens outside the old town or port areas.
Please Señor Alcalde, provide some follow-up and quality.
C Campbell
