ISSUE NO. 1627
8 - 14 September 2016
Stop Press
AXARQUÍA - COSTA TROPICAL YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION DON’T MISS OUR PROPERTY SPECIAL INSIDE ! PAGES 39 - 46
Dog beach blues
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Castle clean-up SPECIALIST cleaning teams have been brought in operating under the watchful eye of archaeologists to clean the ram-
parts of the Castillo de San Miguel and remove piles of gull guano. See page 4
Hi-tech help NEW technology will bring a prehistoric monument to life for its 21st century visitors when a fibre optic network is installed in the Nerja Caves allowing an audio guide to be used for the first time. See page 5
Safe cracker A THIEF picked up by detectives was found to have jewellery worth €200,000 on him which had been stolen from the
rooms and safes of hotel guests using magnetic cards which allowed him to bypass security. See page 9
Citizen power RESIDENTS of one municipality are being encouraged to register with their local authority and push its valid-to-vote number up to 50,000 when they qualify for a bigger chunk of state funding. See page 12
By Matthew Elliott A controversial dog beach which opened just weeks ago could face imminent closure after environmentalists promised a serious legal challenge and called it a threat to human hygiene and marine life. The small stretch of beach at the western end of Torre del Mar was officially declared a dog beach on August 21. But Axarquia environmental action group GENA, claim it was opened without the proper authorisation and thre-
atens unique fauna at the wetlands of the river Velez, an area of special ecological interest. If the closure goes ahead it is certain to inflame the row between dog lovers and those opposed to such schemes. Head of GENA, Rafael Yus, said laws were already in place which prohibited pets from splashing around in public waters during bathing season, “unless the beaches are unfit for swimmers.” This is open to such wide interpretation, claims Yus, that the only reason the local council got away with using it
was because someone put a poster up claiming it was unfit. Yus points out that people have swum there without problems for many years and there was no monitoring or lifeguard presence, meaning it was absurd to label the area as unfit, especially since many dog owners have been paddling around with their furry friends since August 21. There is also a local bylaw operative in Velez-Malaga which insists that dogs out in public are kept on a leash, a regulation at odds with the notion of taking a
dog out for a swim. Dog beaches have become symbolic of the conflict between dog lovers and the wider public this summer, igniting outrage and delight in equal measure as more and more are slowly established across the Spanish coastline.
Dry as a bone THE absence of rain has meant Axarquia residents are being asked to cut back their consumption of water in the hope while
two dams in the region are now officially on pre-alert if the situation should worsen. See page 13