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News in Brief

Two bargain priced properties for sale

State of the art ambulances remain locked away standing idle as delicate negotiations continue over the future of a flagship emergency service on the Costa Blanca. Crisis talks between Teulada Town Hall and the Red Cross are being held in a bid to restore a full 24 hour cover for Teulada Moraira and surrounding districts. At present the Red Cross Station at Teulada only provides a weekend ambulance service - free weekday cover being substituted by a private ambulance stationed at the new Levante clinic in Teulada.

The Town Hall of Orihuela is about to release nearly 1,600 habitation certificates to residents of the coast, who have been fighting for years to get them, but have always been told that until the developers finish their urbanisations and issue the relevant paperwork for the various utility companies, it was impossible to issue them.

Thousands of protesters are set to march to the British Consulate in Alicante to press their case for free health care. The PUMA 22 campaign group, set up to fight the decision, is gathering steam with many more worried residents adding their voices to the protest. The campaign started in the Orihuela Costa with the aim of overturning the Valencian Health Authority's decision to withdraw free health care. The group's website has been inundated with support from concerned ex-pats, with many facing health bills for hundreds of euros.

After years of campaigning by Catral residents to get their homes legalised, it seems that, at last, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The Town Hall in Catral will soon be reclassifying and therefore legalising the pockets of land which are classed as rustic. Over 1300 homes in Catral alone have been affected by this 'illegal' homes situation, where builders and developers built properties on rustic land and built houses on plots less than the required 10,000 square metres. As a result, homes were deemed illegal, habitation certificates were never issued and hundreds of home owners were left with houses that they couldn't sell, not to mention without the basic utilities. Now, after many petitions, meetings, the ousting of the previous Mayor, which resulted in the Valencian government taking over the town briefly, as well as a trip to the European parliament in Brussels, the affected homes will soon become legal and habitation certificates will be issued

Five Costa Blanca councillors facing prosecution for standing up to the "bullying and intimidation" of a powerful developer were cheered by supporters as they went into court this week. Little Parcent claimed victory last month in its long running battle to stop 1,800 new homes being built around the village and destroying the countryside but failed to derail a prosecution. But despite the three plans being thrown out by the Valencia Government, Mayor Maximo Revilla, Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Cotterill, and Councillors Fabiola Mora, Jaime Mora and Joan Carles Poquet were forced to give statements to a judge in Denia on Monday.

The second Alicante European Residents Conference took place last week and after last year's controversial comments, in which it was claimed that urbanisations which homed predominantly expats were like 'ghettos where Spaniards feared to tread', this year's event was a much more positive affair. In fact, it was even proposed that the Costa Blanca could become like a 'Continental California'; but more on that later. The conference was officially opened by the Alicante Diputada for European Residents, Maria Asuncion Prieto. She sat alongside the fourth Vice President of Alicante, Carlos Mazón and renowned Spanish journalist and sociologist, Agustin Remesal.

Thirteen exhausted Algerians were landed at Calpe after a successful air sea rescue operation.
The emergency services were alerted when one of the group telephoned pleading for help after the immigrants' frail craft got into difficulties off the Costa Blanca coast.
After the alarm was raised, two helicopters, a Guardia Civil cutter and a lifeboat were involved in a search of the coastal waters between Javea and Villajoyosa.

British Expats beat the exchange rate blues.

Six months ago a group of 5 expat pensioners got together to form a syndicate in an attempt to recoup the losses they were experiencing on their rapidly depreciating UK pensions. The group worked out a low risk system of investing through the internet which they claim has never lost money and now earns each of them 300€ per month.

To read Tom Aroda's article the "Science of the Turf" follow this link

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Two very nice properties to rent on the Costa Blanca.