The plenary session of Calpe City Council has approved the Integrated Action Plan (IAP), with which it will apply for ERDF funds from the EDIL Plans, and with which it aspires to obtain close to 7.4 million euros of this aid.
The EDIL plans, Local Integrated Development Strategies, are 60% financed by ERDF funds, with subsidies that can range from 5 to 15 million euros for projects in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. The Calpe PAI has a budget of 12,260,500 euros and has been drawn up on the basis of the Calpe Urban Agenda, a strategic city plan that includes the major projects that will be carried out up to the year 2030. Specifically, the Calpe PAI includes three projects: the construction of the Siglo XXI Tourist Office in the historic centre and the remodelling of the Paseo Marítimo de la Fossa and the Plaza Mayor, which are therefore the initiatives that now aspire to be financed with ERDF funds.
These are projects that have been in the works for the last few years, which were publicly presented in the last legislature and which can contribute to the development of Calpe towards a more sustainable and innovative city model, adapted to current trends in digitalisation and in which quality spaces are created for the use and enjoyment of citizens.
The motion was passed by the government team (Somos Calpe, PSOE and Compromís) and the PP municipal group and with the abstention of Defendamos Calpe.
The spokesperson for Defend Calpe, Paco Quiles, despite highlighting the need for these projects, indicated that they do not represent a transformative change for the municipality and advocates for other initiatives such as facilitating access to housing, solving the parking problem and providing the municipality with the educational and health infrastructures it needs. ‘What you are deciding to do are necessary but simply maintenance issues and we are not managing to really transform the municipality and have a real impact on the future of Calpe,’ he said.
The spokesman for the municipal PP group, Miguel Crespo, explained that these are projects “initially proposed by PP governments that we considered important at the time and that are still important and necessary today”. And he added that: ‘it is a vote of confidence in the government team to see if they are capable of obtaining the funding for these actions’.
The councillor for subsidies, Marco Bittner, responded to the criticisms of Defend Calpe and said that: ‘to say that this is a simple paint-and-decorate refurbishment, I don't buy it’. And he defined the projects as ‘an engine of change insofar as they are going to be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, because of the space we will gain, because of the use that will be made of those spaces, because of citizen participation... one of the many changes that are to come thanks to the Urban Agenda’.
For his part, the spokesman for Somos Calpe, Juan Manuel del Pino, said that these are ‘three mature projects to be able to present, we had a deadline that we could meet to present them and they met that cross-cutting requirement to enter this competition. We believe they have the best chance of winning the benefit of the subsidy’.
The councillor for housing, Mireia Ripoll, has said that she would have liked to have seen projects that facilitate access to housing included in the PAI in order to be eligible for European funds, but she emphasised that ‘it is not a mature project, which is one of Europe's requirements’ and that it is necessary to carry out strategic planning beforehand and to leave this type of project well defined in order to be able to present it to European funds, something that could be done in future calls for proposals.
‘The investments decided on by the government team are not new, they are not inventions, they are structural needs that we are going to address, hopefully with European funds, and if we are not granted them we will have committed to them and will address them anyway,’ said the mayor of Calpe, Ana Sala, who added that: ’in parallel, public housing is a priority that is being worked on but not everything can be addressed at the same time.’
Renaturalisation of the Quisi
At the same time, the plenary session unanimously approved a request for further aid financed with ERDF funds. In this case, it is a question of the call from the Biodiversity Foundation for the development and consolidation of green infrastructure for the renaturalisation and resilience of Calee in order to carry out the renaturalisation of the Quisi ravine, a joint initiative with Benissa Town Council. The aim is to remove invasive species from the riverbed, introduce riverside trees and restore this ecosystem.
Municipal budgets 2025
On the other hand, the plenary session of Calpe has also definitively approved the municipal budgets for 2025, with the votes against of Defend Calpe and the PP. These accounts amount to 54,911,909 euros, 16.93% more than the previous year and are conditioned by the increase in the garbage tax, as highlighted by the mayor, as in the rest of the municipalities in Spain. 909 euros, 16.93% more than the previous year and which are conditioned by the increase in the rubbish collection tax, as the mayoress pointed out, as in the rest of the municipalities in Spain as it is an EU requirement.
Among the investments included in these budgets are the creation of the Museu fester in Casa Beltrán (in Plaza España) as part of the Destination Tourism Sustainability Plan within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) financed by the European Union - Next Generation. There are also plans to adapt the Civil Protection premises (117,491 euros), the extension of the crossing in the Barranc del Pou Roig ravine (222,678.38 euros), a project for accessibility and maintenance of pavements (250,000 euros), sanitation and rainwater infrastructures (1,074,589.36) and the installation of solar panels in the swimming pool (57,438.87 euros). Also the creation of the Centre for Recovery and Socio-Labour Integration for people with mental health problems (100,000 euros) which will be located in the former Victoria cinemas, among other projects. On the other hand, the 2025 accounts also contemplate an increase of almost 210,000 euros in the rescue and lifeguard service, which will rise to 835,739.26 euros, and 175,516.51 euros in beach cleaning, which will have a total budget of 633,085.30.
Feminisation of streets
The plenary session also unanimously approved the dedication of two streets in the municipality to two important women, Manuela Solís Clarás and Marie Curie. These are the first two streets dedicated to women proposed by the working group of the Department of Equality as part of the process of feminisation of the street map of Calpe.
Manuela Solís Clarás is the first female doctor in Valencian medicine to stand out for her contribution to public health and women's rights and will be the name given to the street that runs parallel to the Pou Roig ravine, between Casanova and Felipe VI avenues - between the sides of the Parc de la Creativitat and the Calpe tennis club.
And the road that runs along the upper part of the CEIP Mediterrani, between Avinguda de Masnou and the Manzanera neighbourhood, which gives access to the Canuta sup neighbourhood, will be named Marie Curie, in recognition of her outstanding scientific work and achievements in the field of physics and chemistry. The Councillor for Equality, Itziar Doval, expressed her satisfaction that the proposal had been approved with the support of all the groups and, moreover, on the very day that the International Day of Women and Girls in Science was being celebrated.