Orihuela stands out with its nine blue flags as the second City of Spain with the most awards for its beaches

The mayor of Orihuela, Emilio Bascuñana, and the city councillor for beaches, Luisa Boné, have hoisted on Tuesday the blue flags certifying the quality of the beaches of Orihuela. The mayor took the opportunity to remind us that "we are the second City of Spain that has received the most awards for its beaches with its eleven flags, including the two marinas."

In the same sense, Boné stressed "that this year was a special year. We have beaten all records and thus made Orihuela an international model". To the award of the blue flags, one must add the Qualitur flags for all the eleven beaches, which certify the promotion of quality management in services and the environmental management system, plus the five flags of the quality mark Q for the beaches Punta Prima, Cala Estaca, Cala captain, La Glea and Mil Palmeras, "who have received these after a thorough examination and attest to the unmistakable quality of these beaches."

Bascuñana, on the other hand, said "the work and effort throughout the year by the city councilors for the environment, infrastructure, tourism and road cleaning has been rewarded when we see these flags blowing on our beaches today."

The excellent beaches that stand out with a blue flag this summer are:
Punta Prima, Cala Mosca, Cala Estaca, Cala Bosque, Cala Capitán, La Caleta, Cala de Aguamarina, La Glea, Barranco Rubio, and the marinas Cabo Roig, and C. N. Dehesa de Campoamor.

27/06/2017

29/06/2017

The city councillor for beaches of the town hall of Orihuela has received the Q flags for quality earlier today in Madrid

The president of the ICTE, Miguel Mirones, and the Secretary of State, Matilde Pastora Asían, conducted the ceremony this morning and distributed the Q flags to all awarded beaches. Luisa Boné, councillor responsible for the beaches of Orihuela, has received a total of 5 flags of the quality mark Q for the beaches of Orihuela. This award is conferred by the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality and stands for strict quality criteria, safety, meticulousness and expertise in management and services offered.

The Q flag is the most important Spanish award for the distinctive quality of the beaches of our country and is given only after a thorough examination. These test criteria certify the quality standard for beaches UNE 187001: 2008, which has subsequently been adapted to the international standard for beaches UNE-ISO 13009: 2016 in order to give the award an international importance.

If you would like to enjoy a beach with complete guarantee this summer, look for a beach that has been awarded with the Q flag by the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality. The following beaches of Orihuela received this award: Punta Prima, Cala Estaca, Cala Capitán, La Glea and Mil Palmeras.

21/06/2017

22/06/2017

Luisa Boné receives the 11 Qualitur flags for the beaches of Orihuela

The city councillor for beaches Luisa Boné received this morning in Cullera by Raquel Huete, the director general for Tourism of the Generalidad Valenciana, the 11 Qualitur flags for the beaches of Orihuela.

16/06/2017

16/06/2017

Since when did you have the responsibility for the management of the city council for the beaches and coordinated services in Orihuela Costa?

Since January 31, 2017, I started my work in the city council for beaches when all the beaches were completely destroyed; the strong storms in December and January were devastating for our coastline.

So you were not involved in the government of Orihuela before?

No, I belong to the municipal group of Ciudadanos.  We had been in the opposition since the beginning of the legislative period, but we decided to reach an agreement with the PP to govern together. This happened, as already mentioned in January. We have been pursuing a constructive policy since the beginning, because we believed that this is the best thing for the community and we have never been proponents of blocking good initiatives just because we are from another party.  If we evaluated an initiative as a positive thing for the community, we also supported it. My group believes that if you want to improve Orihuela and the coast, the best way is to be part of the government and to work within the government team and that is what we are doing now.

What were the first measures you took after taking responsibility for the beaches?

The first was an inventory of the damage we had in all our beaches and the planning of the necessary measures to bring the beaches back into a normal state. The Easter week was approaching and the beaches had to be ready for that time.

Can you mention some of these damages?

The damages were terrible: all the piping for the foot showers was broken and we had to lay new pipelines to all the beaches. The foundations to 14 foot showers were also completely destroyed. The ramps, the stairs and the beach footbridges for access to the beaches were also destroyed, such as on the beach of Playa de la Glea and Mil Palmeras. We have lost a lot of urban equipment on the beaches, such as beach footbridges, waste baskets, including three flagpoles.  Most of the beaches had no sand, you had the impression of a desolate landscape and it was depressing to witness this.

Well, Easter is over and it seems that you have managed to repair everything on time.

That's right. The fact is that the city hall staff and the urban intervention forces responded very well and did an excellent job against the time.

And now?

The beaches are now in a very good state, the international jury for blue flags even told us this week that the city of Orihuela has received 11 blue flags as a quality mark for the year 2017, that is one more flag than the previous year. What I would like to say is that we can not have done our work too badly! Orihuela is very well positioned on the international level because our beaches combine a number of criteria which attracts many people. We are the second municipality in the whole of Spain with the most blue flags, and it is not so easy to acquire them and then to keep them.

Cleaning works on the rocky coasts of Orihuela Costa

In recent days, the group of personnel from the city infrastructure office and the military detachment Moe “Teniente Morejón” (Lieutenant Morejón), stationed under the command of Major Vives in Cabo Roig, have carried out cleaning works on the rocky coasts of Aguamarina in Orihuela Costa.  Due to the difficulty in access, this area must be cleaned by experts who are specialised in working with ropes.

Luisa Boné, city councillor for beaches of the city of Orihuela, has thanked the urban deployment force for this difficult cleaning task and in particular the military detachment, who always cooperate in an unselfish and helpful way for the benefit of all with the city hall and on this particular matter to improve the appearance of an area which is very difficult to access for cleaning.

It should be remembered that in the vicinity of these rocky coasts the weekly market takes place every Thursday and of course, a lot of rubbish accumulates on both the rocky coasts as well as in the adjacent micro-reserve. These are cleaning works for the elimination and the selective collection of any type of waste such as paper, plastic waste, wood residues, cans, etc.

	Cleaning works on the rocky coasts of Orihuela Costa

	Cleaning works on the rocky coasts of Orihuela Costa

24/05/2017

Action plan for the maintenance and renovation of the parks and gardens of Orihuela Costa

The city councillor of Orihuela responsible for coordinated services on the coast, Luisa Boné, and for infrastructure, Juan Ignacio López-Bas, have announced that they will reinforce the urban deployment forces working on the action plan for the maintenance and renewal of the parks and gardens of Orihuela Costa. This action plan was announced a few days ago by Luisa Boné. This reinforcement is necessary because we need to maintain and renew more green areas than we initially assumed and therefore this reinforced workforce will be active at least until the end of May in view of the fact that the summer season will start soon.

In this way, López-Bas pointed out that "given the state of the coastal parks, it was decided to deploy temporarily two troops of personnel from the city infrastructure office on the coast. The one group, consisting of four people, will take care of the parks and gardens and the other, with also four people, to carry out repair works. With this measure, we are expanding and accelerating the work on the renewal of green areas in Orihuela Costa."

17/05/2017

19/05/2017

Asphalting in Orihuela Costa

The city councillor for beaches of the city of Orihuela, Luisa Boné, has advised about the upcoming asphalting in the streets of Orihuela Costa, which will be carried out in four phases.

The first phase has started this week and is being carried out in areas where there are serious shortcomings in the pavements and where there is a lot of road traffic. This will be in the public streets of Salvador Dalí in the area of PAU3 and the street Carretera de Villamartín.

Improvement Measures for Orihuela Costa Underway

The councillor responsible for coordinated services on the coast, Luisa Boné, has announced that the measures financed from remaining funds will start soon. This week two improvement works have already begun - the extension of the pedestrian walkway in the street Richard Wagner in Villamartín and a renovation work to the southern entrance of the beach La Glea in Campoamor.

According to the councillor, "The extension of the pedestrian walkway was necessary because the width of the sidewalk was too narrow for the use of prams, wheelchairs and it led more often to dangerous situations where pedestrians had to enter the roadway to make way for other passers-by. The situation was also aggravated due to the narrow lanes of the road, and due to this there have often been risk situations where someone could have been run over."

BLUE FLAGS FOR ORIHUELA COSTA

The city councillor for beaches of the city of Orihuela, Luisa Boné, has held a press conference to announce that the Blue Flag International Jury 2017 has recognized 11 Blue Flags for Orihuela, nine for the beaches and two for the marina ports.

The city councillor of the Municipal Group Ciudadanos pointed out that "Orihuela can rejoice for several reasons, but mainly because we are the city that has received the most awards in the province and we have now received another blue flag this year, so the number has increased from eight to nine".

These awards are international quality labels that recognize the high water quality of our beaches and the excellent services available to the guests (beach bars, rescue service, foot showers, accessibility etc.). Following this criteria, ADEAC has recognized Orihuela blue flags for the beaches of Punta Prima, Cala Mosca, Cala Estaca, Cala Bosque, Cala Capitán, La Caleta, Cala de Aguamarina, La Glea and Barranco Rubio.

ACTION PLAN FOR PARKS AND STREETS IN ORIHUELA COSTA

From the Office for coordinated Services, which is headed by Luisa Boné, an action plan was launched for the green areas and for the streets of the residential areas of Orihuela Costa.

“After restoring the normality on our beaches, we are now concentrating on our parks. We have compiled different working groups, each consisting of three employees. A working group will take care of the pruning of trees and plants, as well as the clearing of various areas. The other team is responsible for the maintenance of the city furnishings (the playgrounds, the benches, the paper baskets ...)", said the councillor.

To date, these groups have been active in the green areas of the residential areas of La Zenia, Las Filipinas, Campoamor, La Florida, Los Valencia, Los Dolses and Blue Lagoon. And this week they continue their work in La Florida to go afterwards to the residential areas Horizonte, La Ciñuelica and Lomas de Cabo Roig. Step by step, we will be active in all the green areas of the residential areas.