Benidorm drops plans to refurbish Vasco Núñez de Balboa School and starts the process of developing a new school

The Socialist Group on Benidorm Town Council abstained in the vote on a proposal put forward by the Partido Popular-led administration to withdraw from the delegation of powers under the Edificant Plan for Vasco Núñez de Balboa Primary School.

Socialist deputy spokesperson Sergi Castillo described the PP’s decision as “an irreversible step backwards in exchange for a pre-election announcement that is nothing more than hot air”. He warned that the move would mean abandoning a refurbishment project, already processed and approved by the regional education authority (Conselleria), worth €1.8 million, in favour of a promise to build a new school with no budget allocation or timetable for completion.

Castillo made clear the Socialist Group’s position on the needs of the school community: “If the question is whether we want a new, properly equipped Vasco Núñez de Balboa School, the answer is an unequivocal yes. But today, no new school is being approved; what is being approved is the scrapping of all the progress made so far in the process in exchange for nothing but an aspiration. We do not trust this latest change of direction.”

The councillor also recalled that the Education Councillor herself confirmed in writing on 18 August that the new project has neither funding nor a planned completion date.

“The PP is asking us to dismantle a tangible project that is already listed on the Conselleria’s platform and start a new application, without even knowing whether it will be approved. It will depend on whether there is funding, the priorities of the regional government and whether the Generalitat continues to sideline Benidorm as it has done up to now. It is a leap into the unknown driven by Mr Toni Pérez’s electoral urgency,” Castillo said.

The councillor also highlighted what he described as contradictions between the reports drawn up by the Urban Planning and Education departments.

“In no case does the Urban Planning report recommend demolishing the school and building a new one. It calls for a more detailed study. The Education report has interpreted this in a biased way. This could have consequences at higher levels, where it will be necessary to justify why an investment of this scale is being requested,” he said.

Castillo also pointed out that the school is located on a ravine and is listed by PATRICOVA, the Valencian regional authority’s flood-risk mapping system, as being in a hazardous area. This could also have an impact on the processing of the proposal.

PP drops the 20 projects it demanded in 2021
 

Meanwhile, the Socialist councillor strongly criticised the PP-led administration for rejecting a PSOE amendment that would have included in the request to the Conselleria the 20 education projects that Mayor Toni Pérez himself had vigorously demanded in 2021. The amendment also called for an update on projects that have been stalled at other schools and colleges across the city, including Gabriel Miró, El Murtal, Els Tolls, Serra d’Aitana, Puig Campana and IES Mediterrània.

“It is very revealing to see how those 20 projects, which in 2021 were described as urgent and essential for Benidorm’s education community — including the Official School of Languages and refurbishment works at Mestre Gaspar López, Miguel Hernández and Sierra Helada — have now completely disappeared from the PP’s demands,” Castillo said.

In his view, the rejection shows that “those 20 projects meant very little to the mayor, and that he was simply using them as a political strategy and as a tool to confront the previous regional government.”

Finally, Castillo criticised what he described as the PP’s continued neglect of Benidorm’s state schools, recalling that the local government refused in May to debate a Socialist motion proposing €500,000 for urgent refurbishment works at the city’s schools.

“We demand guarantees, genuine funding and action. Education must be a priority and a real investment, not a parade of broken promises from the Partido Popular,” Castillo concluded.

A promise that keeps being repeated
 

During the plenary session, the deputy Socialist spokesperson also invoked “historical memory” to recall that the Partido Popular had already promised the education community this same new-build school 16 years ago, in 2010, under regional Education Minister Alejandro Font de Mora and then Benidorm Mayor Manuel Pérez Fenoll.

At the time, the contract to draw up the project was awarded for €204,000 for a school estimated to cost €5 million.

“What happened to that project? It was left in a drawer while the school’s infrastructure continued to deteriorate. Three years after returning to power in the Generalitat, the PP has done absolutely nothing and is now trying to cover up that inaction with new publicity announcements that have no funding behind them, as is the case with the Cultural Centre and the Poniente and Levante seafront promenades,” he stressed.