The plenary session of Calpe Town Council has given initial approval to the Local Action Plan for the implementation of its Urban Agenda, a document that sets out the major projects that will be carried out in the municipality until 2030 in accordance with the 10 strategic objectives of the Spanish Urban Agenda and the United Nations SDGs. The aim is to make Calpe a more sustainable, competitive and inclusive town.
The document analyses the current situation in Calpe and envisages a total of 168 actions, distributed across the 10 strategic pillars: territory, landscape and biodiversity, sustainable urban model, preventing and reducing the impacts of climate change, sustainable management of resources and circular economy, favouring proximity and sustainable mobility, promoting social cohesion and seeking equity, boosting and favouring the urban economy, guaranteeing access to housing, leading and promoting digital innovation and improving intervention tools and governance.
Among the major projects included in the Urban Agenda, the construction of the 21st-century Tourist Office, the remodelling of the Passeig Marítim de la Fossa and the Plaça Major, the re-naturalisation of the Quisi ravine and the construction of a Crisol (Centro de Recuperación e Inclusión Social y Sociolaboral)
Centre for the Recovery and Social and Socio-Occupational Inclusion) for people with mental health problems stand out, among other actions.
To draw up the Urban Agenda, working sessions have been held with municipal politicians and technical representatives, as well as a process of citizen participation through a questionnaire aimed at all residents of the municipality, businesses and key agents in Calpe.
Having the Urban Agenda will also facilitate the raising of European funds, especially those belonging to the Spanish Multiregional Operational Programme (POPE 2021–2027) such as the EDIL plans, Local Integrated Development Strategies, 60% of which are financed by ERDF funds, with grants that can range from 5 to 15 million euros for projects in line with the the Sustainable Development Goals. In fact, Calpe is also preparing to present its candidacy for these funds and is already drawing up the Integrated Action Plan, which is the document that will include the projects that will be eligible for these European grants.
In this sense, it has launched an online survey to find out the opinion and the needs of the citizens in the municipality, which can be answered through the municipal website www.Calpe.es.
The Councillor for Subsidies and European Funds, Marco Bittner, explained that ‘this document sets out what Calpe will be like in 2030, what plans and projects we want to promote in the different areas. It is a complex and extensive document that covers all needs and is mandatory to apply for any European aid or funding. It is an open document to which more things can be added’.
Paco Quiles added that ‘this urban plan is necessary to resolve long-term deficiencies, there are issues that are necessary but others that are not, there are needs that have not been resolved. The most important concerns of the residents, such as housing, traffic or parking, are not being resolved’.
Miguel Crespo, of the Partido Popular, stated that ‘our vote is in favour since the plan includes projects initiated by Partido Popular governments that we consider important. It is a vote of confidence to see if they are capable of delivering in time and form to obtain the funds’.
OTHER TOPICS
Another of the points discussed was the modification of the Credit to allocate 64,094 euros from an Advertising item in the 2024 budget to the municipalities affected by the DANA (strong winds). The Government's ultimate objective is to provide the budget with a budgetary allocation of 120,000 euros to make a transfer to the Generalitat Valenciana for the recovery of the municipalities affected by the DANA.
The 2025 Contracting Plan of the Calpe City Council has also been approved in accordance with Law 9/2017 on Public Sector Contracts, which establishes the need to programme public procurement activity in a budgetary year or in multi-year periods through the Contracting Plan.
Since November 2024, the various municipal departments have been asked to provide the information needed to draw up this Procurement Plan, for which the Procurement Department has received more than 300 files that have been grouped by category and type of contract. According to the mayor, Ana Sala, ‘it is a roadmap of the intentions of the councillors for contracts that are going to be carried out this year’.
Paco Quiles, of Defendamos Calpe, has pointed out that ‘there are some contracts that we don't agree with, such as the €100,000 for the Pop Festival, the €170,000 for the lighting contract or the €150,000 for the Christmas Fair. There are other needs, such as the local police station. In short, taxpayers‘ money must be managed in the best possible way’.
The spokesperson for the Popular Party, Miguel Crespo, has indicated that ‘the Plan is a legal obligation and to optimise it it should have been presented before the approval of the budgets. There are contracts that catch our attention, but we are not going to go into detail because this is their political project’.
The government spokesman and councilman for contracting, Ximo Perles, has thanked the department of contracting for its work and emphasised that ‘this is not the time to question each and every contract, as this document does not mean that all these projects are going to be carried out’.