Voted Best
ISSUE NO. 1794
21 - 27 November 2019
Newspaper in Spain 2017 & 2018
COSTA DEL SOL
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
BREXIT BOOM MARBELLA is getting a financial boost from the Brexit vote as British residents sign on to the padron municipal register. The ‘official’ population of the Costa del Sol city has grown by 10,000 people in just a year as UK expatriates seek to safeguard their rights ahead of Britain finally leaving the EU. The 5 per cent rise - the population has gone from about 142,000 inhabitants registered in 2018 to about 152,000 this year - means Marbella is now the seventh biggest city in Andalucia by population. Head of the city finance department Felix Romero said “I don’t think there is any city with such a high level of growth.” Romero attributed the rise to campaigns to encourage residents to register and to Brexit, despite an initial dip after the
MARBELLA: Showing a high level of growth. 2016 vote to leave the EU. He said: “Many Britons have decided to register in response to the situation in their country, which shows that Marbella is an attractive municipality. It is as if many British decided to burn their ships and stay with us.” He could not, however, specify whether the increase in the census is due to previously unregistered residents signing up or newcomers to the municipality.
Romero said that when the National Institute of Statistics updates the number of registrations in the municipality, Marbella will surpass Huelva in population. It is good news for the city’s coffers, said Romero. “The increase in population means, above all, income. It means that in the budgets there is a much higher contribution of funds from the Participation in the Income of the State (PIE) and from
the taxes of the autonomous community. “It also means increased enrolment in taxes such as the IBI, which means increased revenue,” he explained. The increase in population, added Romero, is a sign “of the success of the city. This has a relevance in the area of the budget because it allows us to increase the accounts and cover needs that would otherwise be difficult.”
Deadly roads ahead
NEW figures suggest traffic accidents are on the rise in the province of Malaga. A total of 28 people have lost their lives on Malaga roads in 2019, nine more than in the whole of 2018. The number has broken the downward trend of accidents on inter-urban roads. Last year saw the biggest drop in casualties since records began in 1960. There were, however, 19 victims. Use of mobile phones is one of the main culprits and caused at least three of the fatal accidents that occurred in the province
between January and October. A study by Direct Line has highlighted that two out of every 10 deaths on the road are caused by mobiles. Half of Spanish drivers, 13 million people, have conceded that they use their phone occasionally whilst driving. Investigators have also blamed the scarce use of seatbelts, especially in the backseats, for the hike in road casualties. Never forgetting the repeat offenders, alcohol, drugs and speeding, which alone are responsible for 90 per cent of deaths.
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