The plenary session approves the Action Plan for Climate and Sustainable Energy, the first of these characteristics in the Valencian Community

The plenary session of Benidorm City Council has unanimously agreed to the initial approval of the Action Plan for Climate and Sustainable Energy (PACES). The plan, whose document has already been drafted, is carried out by the City Council's adhesion agreement to the 'Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and is the first of its kind to be approved in the Valencian Community. In addition, it will be the reference framework for the development of a comprehensive and coordinated strategy for climate change mitigation and adaptation until 2030.

The Councilor for Public Space, José Ramón González de Zárate, has defended that the PACES "demonstrates that Benidorm is at the forefront and is a pioneer in meeting the objectives in the face of climate change and sustainability" and has specified that "it can mean a great effort for the city, but the fact of promoting a culture of energy saving through raising awareness among the population and the development of actions to strengthen and improve existing measures is very important to fight against climate change and make Benidorm a model to be followed by other municipalities”.

With the approval of the PACES, Benidorm undertakes to contribute locally to climate change mitigation, comply with current environmental and energy legislation and prepare for future scenarios of a restrictive nature. But there are other objectives, González de Zárate pointed out, such as "improving our image, increasing the quality of life of our citizens, reducing energy consumption and associated economic costs, increasing energy efficiency, protecting and preserving the environment for future generations, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and, ultimately, adapt to climate change”.

According to the PACES, it is estimated that it will be necessary to invest a minimum of 3,353,221 euros in areas that depend directly on the City Council to achieve the goals set. As for the areas that do not depend on the City Council, it is estimated that this amount will amount to 6,429,030 euros.

Also unanimously, at the proposal of the Board of Spokespersons, the Generalitat Valenciana has been required to “complete the pending works at the IES Pere Mª Orts i Bosch”; some works that were ultimately paralyzed four years ago, just a few weeks after being resumed. As of today, as stated in the motion, from the City Council "we still do not know why these works were paralyzed and why they are not resumed or when they will." Hence, the Corporation "demands a quick solution that ends once and for all with the situation that this infrastructure is experiencing and especially the educational community of the IES Pere Mª Orts i Bosch".

Already in 2018, coinciding with the last stoppage of the expansion works and at the request of the School Council of the IES itself, the plenary session unanimously approved "to urge and demand that the Department of Education "as soon as possible" adopt the necessary measures for the causes that had motivated the suspension of the works will be solved "definitively and quickly", and in this way, they will be resumed "with full safety and efficiency".

By then, the City Council had already proposed to the Ministry that the completion of the expansion works of the IES Pere Mª Orts I Bosch be included in the first Edificant Plan so that the local administration could take charge of its execution. A possibility that was ruled out by the Ministry, assuring that "the resumption of these works was imminent" and that it would be the Generalitat that would execute them, something that has not been fulfilled to date.

According to the documentation provided by the Conselleria at the beginning of 2017, 15% of the extension would be pending execution, given that the remaining 85% had been completed when the works were paralyzed for the first time due to the bankruptcy of the company awardee.

Benidorm City Council will also urge the Ministry of Health to solve "urgently" the "serious" situation of the Pediatric Service of the Marina Baixa Regional Hospital, where outpatient consultations of this speciality have been suspended due to a lack of personnel.

This has been unanimously approved by the three political groups, following a motion by the Board of Spokespersons in which the current situation and the complaints of the paediatricians are exposed, since of the eleven that made up the service, currently, only there are four left due to "the lack of foresight and neglect in the last two years", which has caused the service to be "dismantled" and to have stopped serving "more than 200 children a week".

The motion recalls that the paediatricians themselves state that it is "urgent to find a real and definitive solution to avoid the closure of the service" since not only is it not possible to attend all pediatric subspecialty consultations, but it has not been accepted by the address that users who require them are referred to the General Hospital of Alicante. Likewise, the proposal considers that this situation “is undermining the functioning of the Valencian health system and, specifically, of the Health Department of the Marina Baixa.

With the vote of the entire Corporation, the Internal Reform Plan (PRI) has been definitively approved that affects a plot of the Condal urbanization, on Nicaragua Avenue. The Councilor for Urban Planning, Lourdes Caselles, explained that with this PRI "various issues of an urban nature that have been dragging on since the approval of the General Plan and the subsequent development of the Partial Plan 6/1 'Xixo'" are regularized.

The agreement also includes giving the green light to the agreement that includes the economic compensation to be received by the City Council and the improvement works to be carried out by the promoters.

Specifically, due to the increase in use, the City Council will receive 21,173.75 euros for Municipal Land Heritage, to which are added the works to improve the rainwater network in the area and the measures to minimize the risk of forest fires, raising the compensation to 37,658.93 euros.

By majority, it has been approved to start the procedures to request a loan of 19 million euros to “finance investments that are of the utmost importance” and whose execution is expected to start “imminently”. The Councilor for Finance, Aída García Mayor, explained that among these investments are projects subsidized with European funds, such as those contained in the Sustainable and Integrative Urban Development Strategy (EDUSI), in the Tourism Sustainability Plan or those that have IDAE co-financing, which must comply with a very specific work schedule; as well as projects such as "the improvement of the roads in school environments", the renovation of "the Paseo de Poniente footbridge" or "the improvement works of the 'Raúl Mesa' pavilion".

García Mayor has detailed that the tender for this credit operation is going to be carried out in "three lots" to "increase competitive competition" between the entities that present themselves to it, and has stressed that the technical and economic reports support the application for this loan.

With a unanimous vote, the plenary session has requested public congratulations from the Generalitat Valenciana to six local police officers who on March 20, in a quick intervention, managed to revive a young man who was in cardiorespiratory arrest until the arrival of the services sanitary. The agents are: Antonio Ortega, David González, Vicente Fuster, Javier Jiménez, Jesús López and Yolanda Bocos.

Also unanimously, compatibility has been authorized for a municipal official to provide advisory functions in the Marina Baixa Water Consortium with a view to the development of the entity's Green Energy Investment Plan.

Lastly, by way of urgency, an extrajudicial acknowledgement of credit has been approved by the majority to pay pending invoices for a total amount of 424,480.61 euros.