Benidorm gives the green light to the largest partial plan in the city and the transfer of land to build 91 public housing units for rent

Today, the plenary session of Benidorm has definitively approved the final version of the Partial Plan 1/1 'Ensanche Levante', a proposal by the Councilor for Urban Planning, Lourdes Caselles, which has passed by a majority with the favourable vote of the government team of the PP, the abstention of Vox and the opposite of the PSOE. Also in urban planning matters, the transfer of land to the Valencian Housing and Land Entity of a municipally owned plot of 4,000 square meters for the construction of 91 subsidized rental homes has been approved.

Regarding the final approval of the Ensanche Levante Plan, it means that the owners of the land can begin the procedures for drafting the urbanization and reparcelling project for the sector, which occupies an area of 575,371.20 square meters of land. This is the most important urban sector in the municipality in terms of surface area included in the

1990 General Plan

The project foresees an area of 13,917 square meters on two plots for educational uses. These plots are included in the more than 95,000 square meters planned for equipment. The partial plan also includes a large central park of 61,629 m2, almost 13,000 m2 of gardens and more than 23,000 of free pedestrian spaces.

The partial plan will allocate a total of 65% of the land for public facilities and green areas and 35% for the construction of residential, tourist homes and hotels. The properties will have a minimum height of 20 floors, “so the vertical city model characteristic of Benidorm will be followed,” said the Councilor for Urban Planning, Lourdes Caselles. According to the project, the number of tourist homes that will be created will be 1,564, while the number of residential apartments will be around 780. The number of hotel establishments planned is around twenty.

Caselles has thanked the “tireless work” of the technicians in this entire process “which already has all the favorable reports” and has detailed that “this plan includes 660 public protection homes, in addition to hotels, tourist homes, three large spaces commercial, endowment land for educational use, with a bike lane and large pedestrian spaces. In short, a continuity of the Benidorm model, which enhances its value.”

The head of Urban Planning has stressed the existence of “two educational plots” and the fact that “the lucrative surface is only 35% and the remaining 65% is a green area, facilities, pedestrian and bicycle roads. “There will be a large central park with supporting infrastructure.” At that point, the councillor criticized the socialist group for their opposition to the approval of the Partial Plan and disgraced them that "it hurts them that it advances, develops and becomes a reality in a short time."

The transfer of a plot in the Murtal 2 Partial Plan to the Valencian Housing and Land Entity has also been unanimously approved, to which ownership is also transferred free of charge so that public housing can be built, which would be “under an affordable rental regime,” as stated by the Councilor for General Heritage, Jaime Jesús Pérez.

“The City Council continues in its commitment to promote the construction of public housing,” stated the mayor, who specified that there will be 91 homes, which makes this public promotion “the most important in Benidorm in the democratic stage.” Furthermore, he has assured that “the construction of these homes will generate an opportunity for the beneficiaries and one more opportunity in the market.”

The approved proposal establishes a maximum period of five years for the construction of residential buildings intended for public housing to be completed and that in the event of non-compliance, the plot will revert to the assets of the City Council. It is also indicated that the Valencian Housing and Land Entity will be responsible for the conservation and maintenance expenses, as well as the IBI of the transferred lot.

Pérez recalled that the previous Consell “did nothing in eight years regarding public housing” and added that “in reality, the only thing it did, like the Pedro Sánchez government, was to modify the laws so that "They contradict each other and make the construction of housing in the Valencian Community impossible." At that point, the councillor regretted that they are “laws that protect squatters more than owners instead of betting on incentive measures.” Jaime Jesús Pérez has reiterated the government team's commitment to promoting 600 public housing units in this legislature, as well as the Generalitat's commitment to building 10,000 in that same period. “There is already a first package of almost 700 homes, of which 91 are for Benidorm,” Pérez concluded.

Another issue that has also been advanced in the plenary session by a large majority is the proposal by the Councilor for Street Cleaning, Luis Navarro, to put on hold the file for awarding the street cleaning service and collection of urban solid waste, to to redo the specifications of administrative clauses and technical prescriptions to adapt them to the indications established in the resolution of the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Resources (TACRC).

Luis Navarro recalled that this suspension occurred "as a consequence of the appeal presented by seven of the eight councillors of the PSOE", only partially approved by this Court, and has disfigured this municipal group "since the procedure began in the year 2020 not provided a single proposal and has only waited for the specifications to be approved to appeal them.” Likewise, the councillor has defended that the objective of this contract was "to configure the best services for Benidorm in something as sensitive as street cleaning and waste collection", something for which, he confessed, "we do not feel guilty."

In his intervention, the councillor of the department also mentioned that the specifications received approval from the Higher Administrative Contracting Board of the Generalitat Valenciana and the General Intervention of the Generalitat Valenciana. "Thanks to its resources, the PSOE has managed to ensure that in the end, the economic criterion prevails over the best quality-price ratio, potentially putting the viability of the service at risk, as has happened in other cities that opted for that model," he added. the councillor, who also regretted that "they have managed to get the City Council to spend on rent instead of on the acquisition of goods and, ultimately, to pass on to the citizen an increase in the annual cost, which could well be set at around 25 %”. Navarro concluded by pointing out that this delay in contracting “only benefits the current concessionaire and harms Benidorm.”

The motion, which also contemplates notifying the agreement and the resolution of the TACRC to the three companies that submitted offers to this tender to verify the status of the offers presented and proceed to withdraw them; preserve all the acts and procedures incorporated into the contract file 106/2021 for the Urban Solid Waste Collection and Cleaning of Public Spaces Service Contract, not affected by the Court's resolution; carry out all consultations with advisory bodies that are mandatory; and, finally, notify the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Resources of the acceptance of its indications, it has gone ahead with 17 votes in favour of the Popular Party and Vox and with the vote against the PSOE.

During the session, the Corporation groups also approved the denial by the City Council of compatibility requested by a municipal official to combine public service with the exercise of private activity. The proposal, presented by the councillor for Human Resources, Ana Soliveres, thus responds to the reports prepared by the department's technicians, which conclude that this official has a specific complement recognized in the Job Valuation that establishes exclusive dedication for him and the incompatibility to carry out another activity, so “legally it is not appropriate” to attend to your request for compatibility. The motion has gone ahead with 17 votes in favour of PP and Vox and with the abstention of the eight councillors of the PSOE.

Recognition for three local police officers and Participatory Budget

Likewise, the plenary session has unanimously carried out two motions presented by the Councilor for Citizen Security, Jesús Carrobles, to begin the procedure for granting distinctions and decorations by the Generalitat Valenciana for different agents of the Local Police. Specifically, for agent Jorge Lloret Llorca, for whom public congratulations are requested “for his quick and decisive intervention on 11/20/2023, in which he performed CPR manoeuvres on a woman who was unconscious until she regained her breathing. , being later transferred to the regional hospital by the health services.”

Likewise, public congratulations have also been requested for agents Miguel Puertas Reig and Elizabeth Blanco Grados “for their quick and decisive intervention on 01/19/2024, in which they rescued a person and his two dogs from inside a home in which a fire was breaking out.”

The next motion that has also been approved unanimously, the Regulation of the Participatory Budget 2025, was raised to the plenary session by the councillor for Citizen Participation, Ana Pellicer. The councillor has stated that "since its effective implementation in 2016, year after year, the Participatory Budget has been consolidated as an effective tool to improve and strengthen participatory democracy, by giving citizens the power to decide the final use of al "less 5% of the investment budget of the Benidorm City Council." Likewise, Pellicer has recalled that it is in this Self-Regulation "where the mechanisms of citizen participation are regulated", contemplating, among others, "the use of a digital platform to promote the presentation of proposals and the telematic vote.”

Likewise, the plenary session has also taken note of ruling No. 83/2023 of the TSJCV, Contentious-Administrative Chamber, First Section, which rules in favour of the Benidorm City Council, dismissing the appeal filed against the order issued by JCA No. 3 of Alicante in the ordinary procedure no. 325/2021 and the Supreme Court's Ruling of inadmissibility for processing, Cassation Appeal no. 4883/2023, about the APR-7 Serra Gelada.

Ruling on the Blue Zone

Finally, during the plenary session, within the extraordinary dispatches, the ruling 188/2024 of March 13 of the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community was also reported, which agrees with the City Council and greatly reduces the claims of the concessionaire company of the ORA service in the city about the economic compensation to be received for the effects of the pandemic. Thus, said compensation has been set at 77,628.61 euros, instead of the 794,888.12 that the company initially claimed.

As a consequence of this ruling, the three municipal groups have unanimously approved a budget modification presented by the mayor of Mobility, Francis Muñoz, for a value of 77,628.81 euros. Said modification will be carried out from the Contingency Fund to allocate such an amount for the payment of the TSJ ruling and to reduce as much as possible the possible late payment interest that the plaintiff could claim later.