Welcome to 2020 and Goodbye to 2019.
During 2019 we saw:
- The election of one of our residents and a member of Camposol Residents’ Association, Silvana Buxton, to Mazarrón council and appointed as Councillor for Camposol and Foreign residents.
- The new Mazarrón council agree to the setting up of a round table to include representation from Murcia Region, Confederación Hidrográfica, Mazarrón council and Camposol Residents’ Association.
- A road sweeper working on Camposol after the elections.
- A major police presence on Camposol of the Local Policia and for a short period of time they were instrumental in removing uninsured cars, fining drivers for illegal parking, catching drunk drivers and illegal workers.
- Repairs to the pavements by Aqualia prompted by Gaspar Miras Lorente with help from Camposol Residents’ Association.
- Potholes on the main roads repaired by the new council.
- Mosquito bug sprayers at work on Camposol.
- Numerous meetings called and attended by Silvana Buxton and Gaspar Miras Lorente with Camposol residents to discuss issues and problems.
- Areas of Camposol get lighting switched on for the first time, but alas we saw major black outs after the latest Gota Fria and some unexplained activity which is currently being investigated.
- The new Council team publish a budget for Camposol for 2020. The first time a budget has been apportioned to Camposol, although the budget was for 2020 as the new council were not responsible for setting the 2019 budget.
- Meetings between the Camposol Residents’ Association and the Council re-instated after waiting for 3 years for the Town Hall having nothing to say to us.
Moving onto 2020, we received the shocking news that residents had in their deeds a clause concerning Community of Owners – which is not an Entity, but to some parties is described as one. This meant that we had Private and Public roads to contend with and the residents had a responsibility for maintenance within their community.
We now have a community that is in a state of angst and anger with the new Council and despite the fact that their various representatives (estate agents, solicitors, notaries) let them down in the past for not pointing this out. The Camposol Resident’s Association has been in talks with lawyers and other urbanisations about how these communities work and whether they are necessary.
The Camposol Resident’s Assocation has campaigned long and hard over the past 10 years or more to try and resolve all the issues on Camposol and every time we seem to have made a break-through, another rug gets pulled from under us or another issue comes to the fore.
Those new to Camposol will not appreciate the avenues explored in the past by residents and the Camposol Resident’s Association, so to go into them now is only repeating history and would need a whole new report. We now need to concentrate on the future and what can be done.
Moving Forward
The Camposol Resident’s Association committee met with Silvana Buxton and Gaspar Miras Lorente on Saturday 4th January 2020 and spent two hours discussing the issues of Camposol and an approach on updating the residents on progress. Items discussed included:
Fin De Obras*, Community of Owners**, Roads, Lighting, Bridge between Camposol B and C, Priorities, Round Table, Budgets, Water issues, Street markings, Regular meetings, Rambla, Local Council Office on Camposol and Dates for Future Meetings.
*For clarity regarding ‘fin de obras’ or the ‘final work certificate’ is a document that proves that the works for which a work license has been requested are finished. This document must be signed by the construction manager and the construction execution director. Usually, in building works, the construction manager is an architect and the construction manager is a technical architect, so the council have no say in completing ‘fin de obras’.
**Community of Owners – this would seem to be an imposition which we have no control over. The Camposol Resident’s Association as an organisation is far from happy with our members having to comply with this, especially as the infrastructure on Camposol has never been completed. We are going to ask our members what they want to do as there would appear to be only 3 options open to us:
1) Sign up.
2) Find a way to avoid this process – which could mean lots more action through the courts or through European channels which we are exploring, but we are up against the statute of limitations process and
finding the money to facilitate this.
3) Do both.
Bearing in mind that we have already taken our problems to the region and we have a Round Table Process to follow and we have a new council who, whilst cash strapped, are still prepared to find funds to do their bit.
This leads quite nicely onto budget:
- Lighting has a budget of €160k which has been reviewed by Capti, but now has to go out to tender as part of proper process which is something the previous Council bodies failed to do.
- Another project that has been estimated, is finishing Avda de Los Covachos and that comes in at €365k.
- A further project for pavements and parks has been costed at €150k.
You can see that just 3 projects are going to break the budget for next year, so there will need to be a carry-over of works. In addition, some serious remedial works need to be done as a matter of urgency on the
bridge between Camposol B and C and it’s hoped that this work will be done through insurance as the bridge has a 10 year cover.
The Round Table will be dealing with the bigger projects and the first one slated is the Rambla on Camposol D. Some remedial work done to a run-off in Totana may have reduced the risk of another flood happening, but this needs to be validated.
We have suggested dates going forward to meet with Silvana and Gaspar as follows: 15th February, 21st March, 18th April, 16th May & 20th June. It was a very worthwhile meeting for gathering information and to let Gaspar and Silvana know that whilst thanking them for their efforts, we will be keeping a watchful eye and pressure on to see significant changes to Camposol and our relationship with the Town Hall and the Round Table.
Here’s hoping things will continue to improve and that the momentum will increase over this year and years to come.
A Happy 2020 and best wishes for a bright future.
Phil Gelling
CRA President/Chairman