Benidorm will submit to plenary session a proposal to open a dialogue with the owners of the APR7 after joining the Economic Stimulus Fund

Benidorm City Council will debate next Friday in plenary session, opening a dialogue with the owners of the APR7 (Area of ​​Special Protection for the 7th Region) after joining the Economic Stimulus Fund. This membership, which will also be approved in plenary session, will allow the City Council to request 55 million euros to cover part of the amount set by the High Court of Justice (TSJ) of the Valencian Community for land compensation in Serra Gelada. This was announced on Tuesday by the city's mayor, Toni Pérez, after presenting both issues to the three political groups in the municipal corporation at a Spokespersons' Meeting where they were provided with all the relevant information. "As we have been doing in our daily management, and especially in this matter, from the very beginning," the mayor emphasised.

Following this meeting of the Spokespersons' Committee, held in a public session, Pérez explained that the plenary session will address these issues in two separate proposals, which were reviewed today by the Internal Affairs Committee, after both files and their corresponding technical reports were finalised as a preliminary step before their inclusion in the plenary session.

Thus, the first of the proposals to be reviewed by the committee and approved by the plenary session is the formalization of the loan operation with the financial institutions determined by the ICO (Official Credit Institute), charged to the Local Entities Financing Fund, specifically the Economic Stimulus Fund, for an amount of 55,000,000 euros, following the Ministry of Finance's favorable decision on the application submitted by Benidorm last January.

As he explained on January 29, joining this fund “is possible because the City Council's accounts are perfectly sound,” something the Ministry itself pointed out when it opened this “window of opportunity,” and which the municipal technicians confirm in their reports. Specifically, the Municipal Auditor's Office, in its report of January 28, 2026, considers that the City Council “can assume the repayment of this amount without diminishing the services currently provided by the municipality,” over a period of 12 years and at an interest rate of around 3.5%, with amortization beginning in 2027, according to the schedule proposed by the technicians. “The repayment of this loan will also not result in a tax increase,” as the mayor himself reiterated today.

The second proposal to be addressed is to grant a seven-day hearing period to the parties with recognised rights under the APR7 (Area of ​​Priority Management of the 7th Region), so they can express their views on the feasibility of entering into a collaboration agreement and its terms. Regarding this matter, the mayor explained that “the technical experts' opinion is that now, and not before, we have reached the appropriate procedural moment to open this channel of dialogue with a single objective in mind: defending the general interest of Benidorm and all its residents.”

When asked who would participate in this hearing, Toni Pérez was emphatic: “Only technical experts,” thus ruling out the participation of politicians in these negotiations. “I am convinced that this is the best approach,” the mayor stated, adding that “if there were even a modicum of loyalty from all political groups, we might opt ​​for a different path, but unfortunately, we have been witnessing a lack of loyalty from some for weeks now, and not only in this matter,” referring to the local PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party).

Finally, the mayor indicated that, once both proposals are approved, the City Council will inform the courts of the steps being taken to comply with the ruling, thus fulfilling the request made by the courts themselves and as has also been communicated to all political groups.