PP votes against and C’s and Compromís abstain from approving parking fee for Granadella and Portitxol
The opposition insists that there had to be a differentiation between those who are registered as resident in Xàbia and those who are visitors to the town.
Monday 29th April 2022 – Mike Smith
Source: original article – Carlos López (Xàbia AL DÍA)
Xàbia’s local government team – PSPV / CpJ – has been left alone in the initial approval of the implementation of a fee of 9 euros for parking in the popular beach coves of Barraca-Portitxol and Granadella after the opposition parties either voted against the proposal (PP) or abstained (Ciudadanos and Compromís).
The debate during the April plenary session of the local council highlighted that anyone who heads to these beaches during the summer months will have to pay the access fee, regardless of whether they are a resident or not, or if they stay for an hour or for the whole day. In response, the opposition said that there had to be a differentiation between those who are registered as resident in Xàbia and those who are visitors to the town.
PP spokesperson Rosa Cardona expressed her disappointment in the way that the fee is being implemented and requested that there be more sensitivity with the residents, suggesting that those who own vehicles registered in the town should enjoy a price reduction. She also asked why someone visiting either cove at 6.00pm in the evening would be expected to pay the full fee of 9 euros.
Juan Cardona, spokesperson for Compromís, agreed that there should be discounts for registered residents, adding that the lack of cross-party participation in the process of developing the policy of an access fee to these coves has meant that the opposition has not been able to offer their own contributions.
The spokesperson for Ciudadanos, Enrique Escrivá, also supported the proposal for discounts for registered residents whilst adding that they could also be applied to those who have vehicles with official DGT ecological certification. He also criticized the local government for not having an alternative transport plan in place as well as the lack of reports from the Department of Beaches or the Policía Local on the “load capacity” of each cove and the effect that such as policy will have on other coves and beaches such as Cala Francés.
The councillor for Beaches, Toni Miragall, responded that the local government hasn’t been “improvising” on this policy but had been working on a working plan for the coast for three years and that it couldn’t start processing this new local by-law until the new budget had been approved. He recognised that it is a “trial year” and that if it proved to be an unfeasible policy, it would be changed for following years.
Mayor José Chulvi added that the local government was very aware that “a principle has a cost” but added that they had to make a decision because they are in government and that the intention of the policy was not to be “a rotating car-park like a shopping centre”, stressing that the local government always aims to propose measures that were beneficial to all residents as long as they in accordance with the law.
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