Pre-Plenary meeting with PP advisors in Almeria

Three weeks prior to the 28th September plenary meeting, the Opposition team went to Almeria to meet with our PP advisors at their offices in the Diputacion (provincial government) building.  Our goal was to find out how to go about solving the following issues raised by our supporters.

1)      Employees of the Town Hall

a)      Since the local elections in May, a new post seems to have been created at the Town Hall.  Our supporters are asking what is this new post, what are the  responsibilities, was the position correctly advertised and what are the qualifications of this person.

We are concerned because there appears to be a pattern recurring here where jobs in the Bedar Town Hall are not correctly publicised and other qualified Bedarense locals are never considered for the positions. 

b)      Why is it that foreigners in Bedar have access to the services of the "Advisor  for immigrant Affairs" as a translator but the British town councillor, David Horton, is denied those same services at the plenary meetings or when he wishes to study town hall documents.  Bear in mind that some 42% of Bedar voters are British and few of them speak  Spanish.

Our PP advisors told us that Ana Rubio (spokesperson for the Opposition) needed to see Juan Cintas (the town hall secretary, an independent civil servant post) to obtain or request the following information:

·       Who the employees of the Bedar town hall are and the exact title of their position in order to see if their activities correspond to their job description;

·       To ask for a Resolución de Nombramiento (an official document) from which can be established whether or not the "Advisor for immigrant Affairs" can be required to translate at the plenary meetings.  

Our supporters have expressed concern to know what access the "Advisor for immigrant Affairs" has to private information and documents.  It has never been made clear what are the full functions of this employee in the Town Hall. 

2)     According to the BOP (Official Provincial Bulletin for public announcements), in an entry which appeared on September 6, 2011 but was originally dated August 4, 2011 and signed by the Mayor, the proposed tanatorio is located on non-urbanizable land.  The public was given 20 days to make allegations.



      This is an urgent matter as it has all been approved.

Our PP advisors said that we needed to ask the town hall secretary for relevant documentation regarding the tanatorio project to ascertain whether it is a private or public initiative. 

We are concerned that approval has been given to build on land which should not be built on.

3)    The El Pinar sewage system problem continues without resolution.  Environmental laws are being breached and there is a risk to public health because the sewage is not channelled in the appropriate way.  No one will take responsibility to put this right and what can we do about it?

Our PP advisors told us to look at the PGOU (approved municipal planning document) to identify the relevant sectors and to ascertain if the building of the El Pinar sewage system was a public or private initiative.  They underlined that until the sewage system had been correctly completed, the town hall should not have issued Certificates of First Occupation.     

On September 17^th, the spokeswoman of the Opposition, delivered a written request to the Secretary Juan Cintas asking for the above information which was duly stamped as received.  By the date of the plenary on September 28^th, we had yet to receive a reply or any documents.  We are now returning to the Diputacion to find out how to proceed next.