The full session urges the Regional Government to pay what it owes to public schools of Benidorm

The plenary session of Benidorm has approved today, at the proposal of the Councilor for Education, Maite Moreno, to urge the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports to “immediately regularize pending payments to public schools in Benidorm so they can continue developing its socioeducational action with the required normality ”, especially the amounts due in terms of“ dining and scholarships ”for 2019.

According to the data provided by Moreno, the Ministry currently owes “more than 350,000 euros to public schools” in Benidorm, a figure that “some raise to 15,000,000 euros for dining and educational material scholarships in the whole of the Valencian Community ”. As stated in the motion, "public schools can see inexorably altered the provision of their services in the absence of resources" from the Generalitat, and in the case of "school canteens, scholarships and operation" assume "a serious burden for the development of its activities ”.

In this sense, in recent days it has been news and with “great social impact” the “economic difficulties” suffered by “the CEIP Gabriel Miró of Benidorm, a Singular Educational Action Center (CAES)”, in which, therefore , “More than 30%” of the students “present difficulties of school insertion because they are in situations close to social exclusion”.

Hence the plenary has urged the regional government to catch up immediately in the payment of outstanding amounts to schools in Benidorm.

Unanimously, the plenary has also approved the accession of Benidorm to the Spanish Network of Cities for Climate, section of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) that brings together local entities that have included in their political agenda the protection of weather. The local government spokeswoman, Lourdes Caselles, explained that the activity of this Network "is aimed at promoting sustainable development policies and promoting local policies to combat climate change and adapt to it" linked to "four basic axes: mobility, energy, waste management, and urban building and planning ”.

Based on the agreement, the City Council “undertakes to determine a set of actions that will be incorporated into the already promoted Municipal Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change”. A Municipal Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, a pioneer at the national level for a tourist destination, which the mayor announced during the last Climate Summit in Madrid, and which is directed and tutored by the professor of Regional Geographic Analysis Jorge Olcina, director of the Laboratory of Climatology of the University of Alicante and one of the most authorized voices in this field in Spain.

Caselles has pointed out that this adhesion is “in line with everything the City Council is already doing in this same line”, and therefore “in the areas of mobility, energy, urban planning, recycling and urban waste management, among others”.

With the vote of the local government the contract for the maintenance of parks and gardens has been extended to incorporate the new green areas created in the city since the signing of the contract in mid-2017: Séquia Mare Park and the area of the new stop of the TRAM, totaling more than 67,000 square meters. A contract that was backed by the vast majority of the councilors of the previous municipal corporation.

The councillor of Public Space, José Ramón Gónzalez de Zárate, has indicated that this contract included the possibility of extending the amount of the contract for the creation of new green areas, and has indicated that “while the national average of investment for the maintenance of parks and gardens range between 2.59 and 2.89 euros per square meter, this extension is made to 1.20 euros. ” Specifically, after the extension, 75,926.65 euros will be paid annually - VAT not included - additional.

De Zárate has pointed out that "Benidorm is an example at the national level, with more than 600,000 square meters of green areas, above cities with higher population volumes", and has advanced that this area will grow throughout the legislature, since that "we have more parks in planning, within EDUSI, such as El Moralet, which will double green areas in Benidorm."

Unanimously, the Corporation of Benidorm has asked the Ministry of Economic Transition to authorize the transfer of water for irrigation through the Tajo-Segura Aqueduct to guarantee solidarity between regions and equality among Spaniards recognized in the Constitution ”. In the same agreement, it is proposed to negotiate “a National Water Pact” and “promote a State Water Plan and a Comprehensive Water Management System” to “fulfill the commitments assumed with the EU, ensure the attention of the demands in the deficit basins and avoid the overexploitation of certain resources, as well as providing the Spanish water management system with sufficient stability and financial solvency ”; as well as to establish “the necessary measures to coordinate and implement the river basin hydrological plans and an integrated management of water resources”.

In addition, and with the vote of the government, the Ministry has also been requested to refrain from “linking the activity of a certain productive sector”, such as “the agriculture of Levante and specifically of the Campo de Cartagena”, with “the crisis environmental of El Mar Menor ”; as well as the start-up of the pumping that allows “to reduce the entry of water with nutrients” in it.

On the other hand and by majority, a five-year demand concession has been awarded, with the possibility of an extension for the same period, for the installation of a charging point for electric vehicles, at the request of Grupo Eurotabaco Projects on Monte Carlo Avenue. This recharging point, with the possibility of simultaneous charging for two vehicles, will be of private use by the merchant for 8 hours a day, and after that open time its use for all citizens free of charge. The councillor of Contracting, Aida García Mayor, has explained that this concession was approved last August in full and is now awarded “after no allegations have been submitted during the public information period, and once the company has submitted all the documentation and has paid the corresponding fee ”.

Another identical concession has been awarded with the same for a period of five years, in this case to Iberdrola, for the placement of two other points of rapid recharging of electric vehicles on the avenues Europa and l’Aigüera. These points also allow simultaneous loading of two vehicles.

In the same session, unanimously the proposal to change ownership of position number 24 of the Municipal Market, the one dedicated to shoe repair and duplicate keys, has been approved.

In the last item on the agenda, the General Audit of the 2018 financial year has been reported.