Benidorm awards the bar-café at the Municipal Market, which completes its commercial offering

The City Council's plenary session today unanimously approved the awarding of the three stalls reserved for the Municipal Market's bar-café to the merchant Fuster e Hijos Meat Centre SL. With this award, the Municipal Market now has all its stalls occupied, thus completing its commercial offering. According to the Councillor for Commerce, Javier Jordá, the contract is for a maximum period until June 30, 2055, and for a value of €219,247.77.

After the plenary session, the councillor stated that "with the upcoming opening of the bar-café, we are completing the process of opening all the stalls at the Municipal Market, boosting its activity," following the recent implementation of the fruit and vegetable stand and fish market. Jordá noted that "the bar-café will provide a meeting place and will contribute to the revitalisation of the Market, attracting residents and visitors to this space with a new culinary offering; an offering that complements the existing food and services."

Also unanimously, the plenary session endorsed the proposal to recognise Professor María José Lozano Pérez with the "Ciutat de Benidorm" Cultural Award; this recognition, as every year, will be presented during the institutional plenary session on October 9th. This distinction, proposed by the committee in charge of the award, recognises "the outstanding cultural merits" of María José Lozano throughout her career as a secondary school computer science teacher, advisor to the CEFIRE (Centre for Training, Innovation and Educational Resources) in La Nucía, and as a person closely involved in numerous cultural activities in our city. Among them, Lozano served as the technical coordinator during the development of the "Diccionari de Benidorm" (Benidorm Dictionary); she has received various photography awards and published in various magazines and publications, mostly related to fashion or urban planning; and she has been a member of the Benidorm Choral Group, the Benidorm Musical Union, and in 1997 was one of the founding women of the L'Illa de Benidorm Musical Society.

Furthermore, in 2016, Mª José Lozano hosted the Town Charter event, and in 2025, the 700th anniversary of Benidorm's founding as a municipality with its own legal entity, she actively participated in the 700th Anniversary Commission, where she shared the duties of technical secretary with the official responsible for the Municipal Archive.

In terms of urban planning, with the favourable votes of the PP and PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and the abstention of VOX, the initial version of the Strategic Environmental and Territorial Assessment Plan and Study of the document lifting the suspension of the 1990 General Plan in the areas of Sierra Helada, l'Illa, and Sierra Cortina has been provisionally approved. At the same time, the seven objections submitted to the plan during the public exhibition period have been resolved. The Councillor for Urban Planning, Lourdes Caselles, recalled that "the 1990 General Plan suspended these three areas" on the understanding that "they should be subject to an environmental impact statement," a process that has been adjusted to the various regulatory changes until the preparation of the document approved today, which has "all favourable reports."

As already announced last May when its submission to public information was approved, the island has been excluded from any planning, while the Partial Plan affecting the Sierra Cortina area has been reduced to less than a third—only the southern part bordering the Residential Medical Sector—and in Sierra Helada, only a small area of ​​land remains in PAU 2.

Following today's decision, the document will be sent to the Regional Ministry of Environment, Infrastructure, and Territory of the Generalitat (Catalan Government) for final approval and, where appropriate, for the issuance of the corresponding Strategic Environmental and Territorial Declaration.

With the vote in favour of the entire City Council, the plenary session approved a budget amendment of €2.9 million to address the repayment schedules for bank loans through the end of the year. Finance Councillor Aida García Mayor explained that "the early repayment of €19.5 million in bank debt, charged to the surplus achieved in 2024, has modified the repayment schedules for this year, making it necessary to supplement the budget planned for this purpose from an initial €2.9 million to €5.8 million." By the end of the year, between ordinary and early repayments, the City Council will have settled more than €25.3 million in bank debt.

Likewise, by majority vote—with the local government voting in favor, the PSOE voting against, and Vox abstaining—a group of invoices totaling €6.1 million was approved for "basic services" that are currently in the process of being continued, contracted, or put out to tender, such as the traffic light network, street cleaning and waste collection, cleaning of public buildings, and park and garden maintenance, the new contract for which is already in effect. The Councillor for Finance emphasised that the invoices included in this list "are duly informed by municipal technicians and their prices are adjusted to the services provided."

The appointment of José Vicente Fuster García to head the local Civil Protection group, replacing José Fuster Albuixech, was unanimously ratified. The Councilor for Citizen Security, Jesús Carrobles, highlighted the "commendable work" of Civil Protection, supporting the work carried out by the State Security Forces and Corps and our Local Police" in emergencies or during various incidents. He also referred to the "long and brilliant period" of the volunteer group under the direction of Fuster Albuixech and wished the new head of Civil Protection "good luck in his new role."

During the session, the Mayor's decrees suspending and resuming school activities in the city due to the flood emergency and orange pre-emergency due to heavy rains declared on September 8 by the Valencian Community 112 service were reported. Information regarding the execution of the second quarter of the municipal budget was also reported, as well as the ruling dismissing the appeal filed by the Auplasa Joint Venture (UTE) and SICE (SICE) against the plenary agreements terminating the ORA contract.

During the questions and requests section, the Socialist municipal group took the floor to express its solidarity with the victims of Gaza and condemn the actions of the Israeli government.