18 - 24 January 2018
COSTA DE ALMERÍA
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM Credit: AUAN
ISSUE NO. 1698
Car charges dropped A WORKER at a car dealership has being acquitted of stealing nearly €108,000 from the sale of 21 cars by an Almerian court. Charges against the worker were dropped after prosecutors requested an acquittal during the oral hearing on the grounds the crime had not been proven. The company’s lawyers maintain the worker deserves the six-year sentence for crimes of aggravated misappropriation. The company claims the worker took advantage of his position as manager at the dealership in Huercal de Almeria to steal €107,695 from November 2011 to July 2012.
Bad for boy racers YOUNG drivers in Almeria are among the worst in the country, according to car insurance industry data. The ‘Youth at the Wheel’ report ranked drivers aged between 18-35 by the likelihood of them having an accident on a scale of one to 10. It found that young Almerians were among the country’s worst drivers for serious accidents, along with Las Palmas, Cadiz, Sevilla and Pontevedra. The best scoring provinces were Soria, Segovia, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Huesca and Avila.
QUESTIONS: The evening’s panel.
Home improvement By Benjamin Park A meeting has been held by the ‘Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora No!’ (AUAN) and the Albanchez Residents Association (ARA) to discuss a solution to illegal housing issues across Andalucia. There was a huge turnout at the Culture Centre in Albanchez, with not only residents of Albanchez, but many from surrounding areas in the Valley of Almanzora as well. The panel hosting the evening was made up of members of respected boards in the region including President of Albanchez Residents Association, Estanislao Beltran; President of the AUAN, Maura Hillen, President of AUAN; Member of the Andalucian Parliament and National Executive of Ciudadanos; Marta Bosquet; Provincial Coordinator of Ciudadanos; Francisco Ramos; Planning lawyer, Eduardo Amor; technical architect, Benedicto Bonil and Ronnie Howley, a town planner.
The meeting gave the people who have been affected by the issues currently surrounding housing in the region the opportunity to discuss a resolution for the problem. Many were anxious to point out that houses on asentamientos (housing waiting to be legalised via a town plan) should be given a form of permission, known as an AFO, in order to allow them to register ownership of the property. They argued this permission would give them piece of mind during the legalisation process, which can take up to 10 years. Gerardo Vasquez, lawyer and spokesperson for AUAN, told those present at the meeting how there had been talk of an amendment to give provisional
services to houses on asentamientos for a period of two years. However, he argued that: “these sort of provisional licences for such short periods of time are of little use, and are certainly of little use to the houses in the Valley of Almanzora.” He went on to say: “I believe that this is the third provisional licence that I have seen since 2012 and the last ones did not work. And the type of provisional licence suggested does nothing to solve the problem of the lack of escrituras (deeds). “To solve this problem, an AFO is required. And we are not just saying this now. We said this before during the last reform of the planning laws,
when we explained that there was a gap in the last reform because it did not provide a solution for asentamientos.
“This is what we are asking for now, simply and plainly, an AFO for houses on asentamientos.”