LOCAL NEWS

AEN wants Playazo
hotel
and more parking

Hundreds of extra hotel beds, more car parking and new access roads were called for by a one-day forum in Nerja.

The conference, arranged by the local business owners association, AEN, aimed to define areas which should be addressed in the town’s local development plan (PGOU).

IThese would include 550 spaces in Huertos de Carabeo and 600 in the area behind the old market in Plaza Ermita next to the site of the future bus station, both of which are already used informally by hundreds of vehicles daily. n addition, they argued, an 800 space underground car park is required in the area of Burriana beach, plus 400 spaces at the future fairground.

To relieve traffic congestion, two new roads were recommended. One would be a new northern access as far as the new fairground which is to be sited on the right bank of the Chillar river, while the other would link El Playazo beach with El Chaparil and the paseo marítimo at La Torrecilla.

The latest version of Nerja’s PGOU, outlining the town’s plans for the next decade, is likely to be finalised in the first half of this year. At present, it indicates that more than 6,700 new homes will be built with seven new zones being classified as residential.

Junta denies more
tourism cash
to the east ...

José Alberto Armijo’s commented followed a meeting with the region’s tourism councillor, Sergio Moreno. Sr Armijo called for the 31 municipalities in the area to work together towards their own sustainable development plan.

The forum calling for a Tourist Development Plan for the eastern coast and the Axarquía has now called on the Junta to improve communications in the area. The body, made up of mayors, tourism representatives and business leaders from Vélez, Rincón, Nerja, Torrox, Algarrobo and Frigiliana, were reacting to the bad news on investment. They said that the “promised rail link to Nerja” should now go ahead in compensation.

The members have invited other Axarquía mayors to join them in the group described by Vélez mayor Francisco Delgado Bonilla as a “new forum without political colour” in response to the Junta’s plans to invest €300million west of Málaga.
 

... but
retreats from
plan to
outlaw
golf homes

The criteria were formally approved and will appear in the region’s official bulletin this month. Last October, the Junta indicated that the forthcoming legislation would outlaw building developments linked to golf courses, although hotel and leisure facilities would be permitted with restrictions.

Now, however, following a period of public consultation, the attitude appears to have softened. The final document states that the construction of houses will be allowed but that regulations will be tightened in order to ensure these will be of a high quality. In addition, the land on which they are to be built must be classified as urbanisable.

The new rules also state that the area of a golf course of 18 holes, the minimum permitted, should be at least 70 hectares, plus 30 hectares more for every additional nine holes.

Nerja is blamed
for
water plant delay

The Government has again blamed Nerja town hall for the delay in construction of the municipality’s water treatment plant.

A parliamentary reply said that the town’s rejection of an agreement signed with Acusur in 2003 was the principle cause of the delay. Presently, the project is awaiting the report of an environmental study due in April.

Q flag
for Torrecilla

Nerja’s second biggest beach, La Torrecilla, has been awarded the Q flag by the Tourism Ministry.

Councillor Jonathan Méndez formally accepted the recognition at a ceremony in Madrid which coincided with Fitur, the annual tourism trade fair. Beaches given the right to fly the blue Q flag must meet minimum requirements in cleanliness, maintenance, accessibility and parking.
 

New
tourist office

The present premises in Calle Puerta del Mar have proved too small to handle the increasing demand and in future will only provide basic tourism assistance. The new main office, budgeted at €30,000, will be beneath the town hall where the municipal art gallery is presently housed.
 

Power
for Maro

Power cuts in the Maro area should be substantially reduced when a second transformer is installed in the village this summer.

Nerja town hall announced that a deal had been agreed with electricity supplier Sevilla-Endesa to site the new equipment close to the fair ground. Power has been a problem in Maro as a result of increased demand from an expanding population.
 

Foreign
victims

A third of the cases of maltreatment of women reported in Nerja involve foreigners.

The Women’s Information Centre at the town hall said the figures for the period January to November 2007 show they attended 102 cases of ill treatment in the domestic setting. The most numerous non-Spanish incidents involved Moroccans, followed by British women.
 

Crash victim
found

An early morning walker in Nerja made a grizzly discovery when he found the body of a 40-year-old local man next to his crashed car.

Police believe the victim’s Mitsubishi Montero left the road and fell about 25 metres into a gully, throwing the driver out of his vehicle. Forensic tests suggest that the accident had happened up to 48 hours earlier.
 

Water
worries

Concern of health centre
rejected

They point out that the site is a green zone and say that interfering with the water course increases the risk of flooding. In addition, they argue, the proposed building will block light and their views, so having a detrimental effect on the value of their properties.

A technical report presented to the council has dismissed the claims that the health centre will block either light or views and said that geophysical studies had recommended a method whereby the risks of flooding would be minimised. It added that the new site was, in fact, a better choice the original area south of the main road.
 

Junta
may try donkeys
for waste collection

Click to visit
Nerja Donkey Sanctuary
website

The Junta de Andalucia has asked the Nerja Donkey Sanctuary to report its findings following an inspection visit to Castelbuono in Sicilly where donkeys are used as an eco-friendly way of rubbish collection.

The town originally replaced four waste trucks with six donkeys and, according to Mayor Mario Cicero, they have proved quicker and more efficient.

There are now ten donkeys, all stabled in the local agricultural school. Six days a week, donkeys and their handlers set off around the town to collect the rubbish. Last year, the collection increased from 140.23kg to 2,468.17kg and, more importantly, there was a 20 per cent increase to 829.95kg of separated rubbish. The donkeys don’t work more than five hours a day and carry about 100kg of rubbish for one route. Their equipment consists of two containers, one for mixed and one for organic waste. Large bins have been installed on each donkey’s route, locked so only the donkey teams can use them. These are emptied by small, more eco-friendly rubbish trucks which have replaced the usual full-size ones.

Although Mayor Cicero says the main reason for the scheme is that it is more eco-friendly it has also generated large cost savings. He says he can have 12 donkeys operating for the same running costs as one truck and the donkeys do not pollute the air. He adds that as the donkeys have babies they will never need to purchase a monster truck – or a donkey - again.

The scheme has helped to propel Castelbuono into being listed in the top 11 towns in Italy for environmental quality by the Lega Ambiente (Environmental League). Jim Horne, who runs the Nerja Sanctuary, is hoping that the Junta will want to try out the scheme here following his report to them and says that the sanctuary would be happy to help provide the donkeys and stable and care for them during a trial scheme.
 

Stadium
repairs

The building, opened last April, was seriously damaged by the September storm which dumped 200 litres of water per square metre on the town in just three hours. Sports councillor Andrés Márquez said that the original wooden flooring would be temporarily replaced by a layer of concrete.
 

Frigiliana
car park
open
for Easter

Frigiliana’s new car park and commercial centre will open this month.

The assurance came from urbanisation councillor Francisco Moyano who said he hoped it would be operating before Easter week. It is six years since work began on the new facility in the town centre which will provide parking for 500 vehicles and has cost €7million. However, it is 18 months behind schedule, partly following power supplier Sevillana obliging the promoters to install a transformer and to move a high-tension power line which passed over the site. As well as the car park, to be known as La Cañada del Ingenio, the development will also be home to 32 commercial premises, plus 700 square metres storage for vehicles which have been towed away from illegal parking places.

At street level, a large open patio gives spectacular panoramic views down to the coast. Once it is in operation, there would be a revision to traffic arrangements in the central area of the town, said the councillor.
 

Parents
back
to school

With up to a quarter of school pupils in the town coming from non-Spanish homes, the initiative seeks to help their parents understand the local culture in order to be better involved with their children’s schooling.

Supported by the Junta de Andalucía and co-ordinated by a Nerja teacher of English, Pilar Medina, foreign mums and dads are being introduced to Spanish parents’ associations. Pilar Jiménez, head of El Chaparil secondary school where 25 per cent of pupils are from foreign families, commented that the idea helps to involve parents more in the work of the school which their children attend.

The inaugural meeting of the group attracted about 20 parents from seven countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Morocco, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Spain. Under the name Tod@s Ciudadan@s, members will meet teachers weekly, with translators provided, to discuss their children’s progress. The group, which is open to parents of foreign children at school in Maro and Frigiliana as well as Nerja, is also organising Spanish language classes for foreign parents.

“It is essential that parents involve themselves in the education of their children,” said Pilar Medina.
 

Illegal home owners -
Junta gets tough

The move follows an attempt by the Junta de Andalucía to revoke construction licences issued by various town halls up to ten years ago.  Properties in Benamargosa, Riogordo, Canillas de Aceituno, Alcaucín and La Viñuela are reported to be affected by the ruling issued from the Junta’s public works department, and the majority are owned by foreign residents.

The mayor of Alcaucín, José Manuel Martín, confirmed that in his municipality 20 licences, issued between 1997 and 2002, had been targeted by the regional government. He said that in many cases this was because the maximum plot size permitted had been exceeded and, in his opinion, the only solution would be to regularise these constructions in the town’s new local development plan (PGOU).

In a separate incident, confusion surrounds a series of letters received by a number of residents in La Viñuela which ask for cash to legalise their properties. They appear to come from the town hall, but the mayor has called them a “fraud”.

Around 50 residents in the municipality, all believed to be British, are reported to have received the letters which invite them to pay “voluntarily and freely, as compensatory payment” sums ranging between €6,000 and €12,000. The letters, with an apparently official town hall stamp but no signature, were immediately denounced by opposition councillors.

La Viñuela’s mayor, Juan Millán of the PSOE, denied having sent the letters to owners of properties which the regional government says were built illegally. He said that, in the present confusion, someone had “taken advantage” of the property owners who earlier had been advised by the Junta that construction licences issued by the town hall as long ago as ten years were illegal and would be revoked.

The local opposition party, the Partido Popular, has called for town planning responsibility to be taken away from mayor Millán, while the Junta de Andalucía has announced an investigation into the letters which they described as “unheard of.”.

Meanwhile, the helicopter seen around the area of La Viñuela last month has been confirmed as carrying a representative of the Environment Department searching for illegal houses and buildings under construction. A member of the Guardia Civil’s environmental arm, Seprona, was also on board and the pioneering flight is believed to be the first time that government and Guardía representatives have co-operated in this way.

It is reported that during the operation they took more than 200 photographs and various videos of building work which could lead to denuncias. Seprona is particularly worried that illegal building in forested areas could pose a fire risk.
 

Maro fails
to bridge the Nerja politics

The area falls within the municipality of Nerja and the town hall asked the Ministry of Development and the provincial culture department for their authorisation to work on the project which has only just started construction.

The plan is to build a steel bridge 65 metres long and three metres wide, supported by a single tower on the south side of the motorway, at a cost of €1.2million. The site is within an area classified as one of particular cultural interest (BIC) because of its proximity to the Nerja Caves.

The town tall has reported that its engineers detected that work had affected some of the infrastructure and that the Ministry should have a licence to work in a protected area. Councillor for culture, Francisco López, said that if the town hall believed that the BIC was endangered, it should stop the project.

The news brought an angry reaction from the opposition leader on the council, Ángel Ramírez of the PSOE, who is also manager of the entity which operates the caves. He accused mayor José Alberto Armijo of opening “another chapter in the series of attempts to halt projects which are important to the area”. Sr Ramiréz added that it was understood the project did not require a municipal licence because it was being built on land which had been expropriated for construction of the autovía.

Mayor Armijo denied he wanted to put an obstacle in the way of any project. “We only ask that things are done within the law,” he said.
 

Demolition
and jail
for Nerja
illegal building

The property in the area known as Pago Río Seco consists of a house of almost 140 square metres with a 29 square metre swimming pool which was built in 2001. The area is classified as not for urbanising and has special protection.

In his defence, the owner told the court that there were other properties built in the area some of which were the same size as his but the court rejected his arguments and the case, which has repeatedly come to court in the intervening years, came to its conclusion. The property was ordered to be demolished with the owner facing time in jail, as well as a fine of €2,160. He is expected to appeal the decision in the provincial court.
 

Easyjet
first

It handled 11.4 per cent more passengers than in 2006 with a total of over 1.8 million, according to data from airports operator AENA. Spanair came second with over 950,000 passengers carried through Málaga, while Iberia, following the launch of its low-cost affiliate Clickair, was third.

Meanwhile, Ryanair and Vueling are threatening to pull out of Granada airport. The low-cost carriers say that the town hall plans to end payment of a subsidy equal to 15 per cent of their operating costs and presently owes them €190,000 from last year. Granada’s Chamber of Commerce contributes a further five per cent to the airlines’ costs.

 

No pain
to plane

The airline said that in January its nine daily flights transported around 52,000 passengers. It added that more than half this number consisted of people transferring to other flights at Madrid Barajas airport.
 

Better
informed

The official State Bulletin gave details of the project valued at almost €5million. The object is to give fuller visual information in order to eliminate the need for public address messages.

VÉLEZ NEWS

Vélez
wants audit
of
PSOE's
ten years
in power

The acrimony between the past and present mayors of Vélez-Málaga has come to a head with a call for an investigation into the municipality’s finances between 1996 and 2007.

The Partido Popular (PP) led by Francisco Delgado Bonilla took power in Vélez in last May’s local elections, so ending the 12-year PSOE administration led by Antonio Souvirón.  Since then, there have been constant accusations flying between the two, but the announcement that the PP plan to ask for a formal audit of the town hall’s management during the PSOE’s time in power is potentially more serious.

Mayor Bonilla said that a proposal to ask for a formal review by the Junta de Andalucía would be put to a full meeting of the town council. The remit of the investigation, he added, would include work contracts, plus contracts and credits which may have fallen outside the legal norms.  The mayor explained that the move had come about following certain projects and contracts which had not met expectations. He cited as an example the María Zambrano park in Vélez into which 400 million old pesetas (€2.4 million) had been invested and claimed that the amount was not reflected in the final product.

He also wanted to have clarified how the annual charge for municipal cleaning allegedly doubled from 7,000 to 14,000 million pesetas (€42.1 to €84.2million) when the contract with Urbaser was ended and given instead to Althenia, and he questioned how a debt of 700 million pesetas (€4.2million) was owed to Limpiezas Crespo.

The PP also wants separately to review the efficacy and efficiency of all public services in Vélez-Málaga following what Sr Bonilla called a possible lack of controls. Such a snapshot of how the town hall functions would, he said, help in future economic planning.
 

New threat
to
tranvía
future
as
debts soar

The threat issued by mayor Franciso Delgado follows weeks of warnings that the amount owed by the municipality to Travelsa, the tranvía’s operating company, is spiralling out of control.  Sr Delgado said that at the end of 2007 the amount outstanding was more than €700,000.

This has come about through an agreement arranged with Travelsa by the previous PSOE administration which the present PP-controlled town council has inherited. While the ticket price for a journey is fixed at €1.30, the true operating cost is estimated at €1.42, so the town hall must pay Travelsa a subsidy of 12 cents for every ticket sold.

“Residents of Vélez-Málaga should not have take on this debt through taxes,” he said. While accepting that all public transport services generate deficits, the mayor added, “But they do not generate the ruin of the town hall.”

The town’s former mayor, Antonio Souvirón, immediately accused Sr Delgado of using the tranvía as an electoral issue with the general election now only a fortnight away. He accused his successor of continually searching for confrontation with the Junta de Andalucía although it was contrary to the interests of local people.
 

New
aeroclub
HQ?

Beach
protection

With winter weather again washing sand off the Axarquía’s beaches, Vélez-Málaga town hall was to ask the Environment Department to find a solution.

Councillor for Beaches, Antonio López Rosique, said he was proposing that technical studies should be undertaken with the possibility of installing offshore reefs to protect the shoreline. Lagos, Mezquitilla and Caleta were all badly affected last month.

La Villa
facelift

La Villa, beneath the town’s Fortaleza, is the subject of a €14.3million project to promote its business and social activities over the next five years. The town hall is asking the EU for a grant of €10million under an urban improvement programme available to communities of over 50,000 people.
 

No interest
in grass?

Their members said that a unique meadow of sea-grass would be destroyed by the planned expansion of Caleta de Vélez port. They claimed their concerns had been dismissed and the Junta was interested only in the economy, not in the environment.
 

Market
to double

The prefabricated structure will be a temporary measure until planned redevelopment of the whole port area begins. It will give the market a special area for molluscs, the first in Málaga, and a new cold room at a cost of €512,000.
 

Park work
starts

The task of moving more than 4,000 trees began after the Junta awarded a €6.5million contract to urbanise the land to the firm Guamar. The project at El Trapiche is expected to take two years to complete.
 

MÁLAGA NEWS

Falling
tunnel panel
causes traffic chaos

Thousands of drivers were trapped in 24 kilometres of tailbacks on Málaga’s ring road after two lanes of the Carlos Haya tunnel were closed for safety reasons. Problems began just after 4.30pm when a steel panel fell from the wall separating the two carriageways of the underpass.

No injury or damage was caused but one lane of the east bound tunnel was immediately closed while an inspection of the entire wall was undertaken. This revealed that many more panels were in a poor state and were also threatening to fall so, a little more than an hour later, the corresponding lane of the west bound tunnel was also closed. The road was not fully reopened for six hours.

Traffic quickly built up with queues stretching on the A-7 from Arroyo de la Miel in the west to within two kilometres of Rincón de la Victoria in the east. With the knock-on effects causing congestion on other roads as a result, police estimated that there were 24 kilometres of stationary traffic around Málaga at the height of the problem.

The panel which fell off is understood to be one which was installed during maintenance work about six months ago. It was part of a project to strengthen the wall in order to improve safety between the east and west bound carriageways.

 

Málaga
buses
fail on
brakes
in ITV tests

Two thirds of buses in Málaga failed their ITV inspections in the last three months.

Serious problems were found in 372 of the 560 vehicles checked in the province with other faults discovered in a further 216. Figures for the period from November to January indicated that the most common reason for failing a bus was a problem in its brakes.

Almost 30 per cent of failures fell into this category while 14.2 per cent were failed because of problems with suspension, wheels or tyres. Chassis corrosion, lights and indicators also caused trouble on many vehicles. Special conditions imposed on school transport and the functioning of speed limiters accounted for another 18 per cent of failures.

The head of ITV inspections in Málaga, Jesús Zamora, said that any bus found to have serious deficiencies was immediately immobilised until repairs were carried out and approved. He said that the annual or six-monthly inspections required on buses and coaches accounted for nine per cent of the total number of checks carried out at Málaga’s eight ITV stations in the three month period.
 

Málaga uses the AVE
to boost
its image
at Fitur

Málaga is closer by train. That was the city’s message at the country’s most important tourism trade fair, Fitur, in Madrid.

The town hall took a 345 square metre stand – almost a third larger than last year’s – to publicise local attractions and expected to hand out over 40,000 leaflets to visitors during the five day event.

More
cameras

Málaga is to install 29 more surveillance cameras in city streets.

The town council has approved a project to spend over €650,000 on expanding the present network of 17 cameras which began operating last March. Plaza de la Merced and the area around the Picasso Museum are amongst those to be covered by the new installations, expected to be operating within six months.
 

No
trams

Málaga has decided against building a tramway.

The proposal for a city tranvía of three lines covering 14 kilometres was included in the local election proposals last year but the town council scrapped it after a feasibility study revealed serious construction difficulties and an estimated cost of €203million. Such a system has not, however, been ruled out for ever.
 

Out
of date

A supermarket in Málaga’s Calle Mármoles closed after its owners were detained for selling out-of-date produce.

An alert customer reported the business to the authorities who found items, many from eastern Europe, with sell-by dates of 2005 on the shelves. Two men, a Ukrainian and a Russian both in their 30s, were arrested on suspicion of an offence against public health.
 

Cocaine
seized

Al 42-year-old man from the Netherlands was detained after flying into Málaga where Guardia Civil officers at the airport discovered 7.8 kilograms of cocaine in his luggage.

The drugs in powder form were found hidden in jewellery cases as well as in a crucifix. The detained man had arrived in Spain from Brazil via Lisbon.
 

Back
to the UK

A Málaga court has ordered that a child, living with her mother in Málaga, should be returned to her father in the UK.

The ruling ignored the mother’s pleas that she was the only guardian of the child and that it was uncertain if the man was her natural father. She argued that the move could put the girl in “serious physical and psychological danger.”
 

Allergy
research

Málaga’s Carlos Haya hospital is to coordinate a national investigation into allergies.

Around 50 experts met in the city to finalise details of the four-year project which will study allergic reactions to medications, foods and irritants such as pollen and dust. A total of 12 centres and 14 hospitals will help in seeking advanced technologies to combat a problem which is reported to be increasing.
 

Cirque
to return

The Cirque del Soleil is coming back to Málaga.

The Canadian acrobatic spectacular will be in the city between June 5 and 13, but the town hall says that this time their contract excludes a cash guarantee agreement. After their 2006 visit, Málaga claimed the company owed the city €1million which would have been retained if revenues had not met expected levels.
 

Málaga
in UK Government conference

A Málaga councillor has participated in a video conference on citizen participation organised by the British government.

Julio Andrade represented the city in a live link with Hazel Blears, the UK’s Minister for Communities, along with his opposite numbers in other British, South African and Nigerian local governments.

Participants were particularly interested in Málaga’s policies on integrating immigrants, given that there 139 different nationalities registered in the city, and how it helps the elderly, the young and local organisations and groups to make their voices heard. The forum also asked about Spain’s three tier governmental system and how the local, regional and national administrations interchanged information and experiences.
 

Kidnappers
caught

The minor, who had illegally entered Spain hidden underneath a lorry, met his captors at Málaga bus station and believed they were helping him. National Police officers were waiting to detain the pair when they arrived to collect the ransom money outside Úbeda.
 

Clean-up
campaign

Welfare councillor Mariví Romero said the aim was to tell potential clients that they were infringing the human rights of the girls who were not working this way because they wanted to. Advisory posters and an increased police presence are amongst the measures being taken.
 

Jobs
saved

The mobile phone manufacturing plant ran up debts of €240 million after Telefónica reduced its purchases from the company by 95 per cent in 2006. The €25 million price tag came with an obligation to retain the entire workforce of 287.
 

NATIONAL NEWS

Size
standards
on the way
for Spanish women's clothing

Help is on the way for women who have trouble finding clothes which fit.

Because there is no industry standard in place at present, some people find they have to buy one size in one shop or brand and a different size in another shop or brand. Now the Ministry of Health has published the results of a five month study with recommendations which could make Spain the first country to establish standard clothing sizes.

Some 10,415 women aged from 12 to 70 in 59 Spanish towns and cities contributed to the investigation by volunteering to stand in special booths where laser beams measured them from all angles to produce a three dimensional image.

They were then categorised into three groups by the shapes of their bodies: hourglass (39 per cent and mainly under 60 years), cylindrical (36 per cent, predominantly in younger age groups) and bell-shaped (25 per cent and consisting of older women). More than 40 per cent of these volunteers said that they had experienced problems when shopping for clothes.

The data collected also show that the average Spanish woman is 1.62 metres tall and weighs 57 kilograms, and that more than 86 per cent have a healthy height to weight ratio. Women considered to be extremely thin made up just 1.4 per cent of the total but, worryingly, 70 per cent of these said they were happy with their appearance. The Government has confirmed it is to repeat the exercise using male volunteers to create a similar standard for men’s clothing.

The Ministry is now recommending that manufacturers take these findings into account when designing women’s clothes and suggests that labelling should cease to be a single figure but should show a woman’s height and her bust-waist-hips measurements. Presenting the report, health minister Bernat Soria said he hoped it would form the basis of a European standardisation of women’s clothes sizes and indicated he would take its conclusions to the European Parliament.

While the changes will be phased in across Spain during this year, the move will quickly affect other European countries in any case because two Spanish retail chains, Zara and Mango, are already successful in foreign high streets.

The consumer organisation Facua welcomed the report but said its recommendations would only be followed by those businesses and groups which had signed up to it. Facua called for a legal obligation to be placed on the sector with economic sanctions imposed on those who failed to comply.

The investigation was carried out by the Health Ministry with the co-operation of the fashion industry to tackle the public perception that being thin means being attractive, an attitude which is thought to encourage eating disorders.

Last year, fashion designers in Spain agreed to end the use of mannequins under size 38 in shop windows and, in 2006, Madrid banned ultra-thin models from the catwalks of its annual fashion week. Last month, three British models were barred from this year’s show in the capital after failing a medical weight control test.

 

Iberia wants Spanait
to boost domestic market dominance

Iberia has confirmed that it wants to take over Spanair.

A statement from the national carrier said it was launching a bid with the transport company, Gestair, and formally presented its offer the following day, the deadline for submissions.

Iberia presently has a fleet of 145 aircraft, while Spanair operates 65, mostly on short haul flights. However, despite having a 35 per cent share of the domestic market, Iberia is reported to be under pressure from low-cost airlines. Taking over Spanair would therefore increase its dominance in this sector. Iberia has already reacted to the arrival of easyJet and Ryanair by restructuring its short haul domestic flights by cancelling unprofitable routes which did not make use of its new hub in Madrid. It also responded in kind with the launch of its own budget carrier, Clickair, based in Barcelona,

although it has no managerial role in its operation. Iberia and Spanair have been frantic rivals on the world’s busiest air route between Madrid and Barcelona.

Spanair is owned by Scandinavia’s SAS and made a post-tax loss of almost €27million last year. It is estimated to be worth anything from zero up to €800million, depending on which analyst you ask. The company was founded in 1986 as a joint venture between SAS and the Spanish travel firm Marsans.
 

Legal age
for mopeds
up to
15 this year

The Government has approved changes to the law affecting motorcycles and scooters.

From September 1, the minimum age at which it will be legal to drive a moto will be increased from 14 to 15 years. The minimum age at which a driver may carry a passenger also goes up from 16 to 18 years.

Licences already obtained by 14 year olds before September 1 will continue to be valid after this date but such drivers will have to observe the new age limit before carrying a passenger. New applicants will also have to pass a practical examination. Drivers whose licence has expired will not need to take the exam to obtain a new licence, provided that no more than four years has elapsed since their old licence ran out, although they will have to produce the required medical certificate. Applicants for licences to ride higher powered motor cycles will have to take separate examinations.

The Government said the changes are being made in response to public demand and to reduce the number of road accidents involving young and inexperienced riders. Málaga alone is estimated to have up to 200,000 mopeds and motorcycles on its roads.
 

Six mules
seized

Guardia Civil officers in Almería who stopped six men just arrived by ferry from Melilla found they were all carrying drugs inside their bodies.

The group’s nervous behaviour aroused suspicion and they were found to be carrying 630 balls of hashish wrapped in clingfilm – about 4.5 kilos between them – in their intestines. All are reported to be eastern Europeans now living in Madrid.
 

Herradura winner

Another major lottery prize has come to the province of Granada.

This time, it was a €1.2 million win in a Bonoloto draw which went to some lucky person in La Herradura. The €76.6 million Euromillions prize won in Montefrío on January 25 has not yet been claimed and the winner is estimated to be losing around €12,000 interest per day.
 

Brit toddler
drowns

An 18-month-old British girl has drowned in a swimming pool at Órgiva.

The toddler disappeared and was found in the garden of a neighbouring house. She had fallen into the two metre deep pool and drowned in just 60 centimetres of water. It was reported that each parent thought the girl was with the other.
 

And
finally …

Your own hamlet for under €50,000?

That was the offer made on a UK website dedicated to the sale of abandoned villages which put Conejares, 185 miles north-east of Madrid, on the market for £35,000. There were so many enquiries that the owner has now withdrawn the property and gone to ground. The hamlet has been empty for several years, does not appear on the map and has no water or power, although the advertisement said “a high-tension cable passes a kilometre away”.