CalpeNoticias EN

Last July the City Council approved in plenary session the rules governing grants and aid for the promotion of cultural and / or artistic training. This is the first time that cultural training has been given financial incentives, as is already the case with sports training.

The subsidies are intended for public or private entities, associations and foundations of music, dance or plastic and performing arts or any other cultural activity carried out in Calpe, to finance the expenses derived from cultural training.

To explain and clarify doubts related to the recent publication of the rules for the granting of aid a few days ago an information session was held in the plenary hall. The credit available for these grants will correspond to the budget allocated by the Town Council for the year, which in this edition amounts to €200,000. The subsidies will be distributed among the beneficiary entities proportionally up to 75% of the eligible expenditure of each entity, always within the limit of the budget credit.

The aim is to subsidise any type of organisation that has taken on cultural training as its own activity. The aforementioned subsidy must have an impact either on the quality and quantity of the services provided by the entity or on the reduction of the fee paid by the student of the entity.

The subsidies must be allocated to the expenses borne by the cultural organisation and may in no case, alone or in conjunction with other subsidies, exceed the cost of the activity to be carried out by the beneficiary. Eligible activities include: the hiring of teachers, their salaries and additional technical staff, supplies, rental of rehearsal spaces or payment of fees for the use of municipal spaces, non-inventoriable material, such as sheet music, management, consultancy and administration costs, cleaning, the percentage of tuition assumed by the beneficiary entity or teaching materials, among others.

The Councillor for Culture, Guillermo Sendra, pointed out the importance of these grants to promote cultural activity in Calpe, and stated that ‘all information regarding the rules for granting these grants is available on the notice board of Calpe Town Hall for more detailed consultation’.

Friday, 27th:

• 16h - International Tourism Day - Guided tour ‘Seafaring tourism’. Departure from the Casa de Cultura in the tourist train. Prior registration required at the tourist offices 96 583 69 20/ 96 583 85 32 or turismo@ajcalpe.es.
• From 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).
• 20 h - Theatre: ‘Els Villalonga’. Auditorium. Free admission.
• Exhibition ‘Coast’ by Erin de Burka. Exhibition Hall of the Casa de Cultura. Until 30 September.
• Exhibition ‘Augmented Reality’ by Pedro Santos. Exhibition Hall of the Ajuntament Vell. Until 30th September.
• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the Calpe Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

Saturday, 28th:

• 10 h - International Tourism Day - Visit to the old town and Bofill buildings. Departure from the Casa de Cultura in the tourist train. Prior registration compulsory at the tourist offices 96 583 69 20/ 96 583 85 32 or turismo@ajcalpe.es.
• 17 h - International Tourism Day - Visit Peñón de Ifach and salt marshes at sunset. Departure from the Casa de Cultura in the tourist train. Prior registration required at the tourist offices 96 583 69 20/ 96 583 85 32 or turismo@ajcalpe.es.
• From 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).
• 19 h - XXI Musical Exchange Concert Campaign. With performances by the Orquesta de Pols i Púa de Meliana and Ensemble Ifach (from the Escola Calpina de Corda). Saló Blau.
• Exhibition ‘Coast’ by Erin de Burka. Exhibition Hall of the Casa de Cultura. Until 30 September.
• Exhibition ‘Augmented Reality’ by Pedro Santos. Exhibition Hall of the Ajuntament Vell. Until 30th September.
• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the Calpe Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

Sunday, 29th:

• From 18 to 1 h - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).

• Photographic exhibition on the occasion of the Centenary of the Calpe Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

The NGO ‘Visió Sense Fronteres’ from Calpe coordinated by Isabel Signes returns this week to Kenya to undertake a new campaign for the prevention and treatment of blindness. This NGO has been visiting Kenya since 2011 at least once a year with the aim of performing cataract surgeries and sometimes with the aim of training ophthalmological staff in the area.

On this occasion the medical team made up of four ophthalmologists, three nurses, two optometrists and a volunteer will travel to the province of Samburu in the north of the country. The delegation has the collaboration of the Ma Math Charitable Trust Kenya and the Office of the Women's Representative in Government.

The project coordinator Isabel Signes will travel to the area from this Friday as she is invited as a lecturer by Mmust University in Kakamega and will take the opportunity to finalise the preparations. The expedition will leave next week, as it is planned to carry out surgical interventions between 7 and 11 October at the Kisima Health Centre. As in previous editions, Calp Town Council collaborates with Visió Sense Fronteres in its solidarity actions.

Visió Sense Fronteres is an association declared of public utility that works for the prevention of blindness in two of its most important causes, cataracts and uncorrected refractive error. Today, 300 associates and benefactors permanently support and finance Visió Sense Fronteres. The Visió Sense Fronteres team consists of more than 40 volunteers. In its 25 years of life, the NGO has assisted more than 101,150 people, performed 8,353 cataract surgeries and donated more than 35,400 glasses.  

With the slogan ‘Let's make our town grow’, Calpe Town Council is launching a campaign to promote census registration and data updating. To this end, the Town Register Department will be distributing from next Monday at the Citizen's Advice Bureau a piece of paper with a QR code explaining the obligation of every person to register on the census in the town where they live.

It also provides information on the documentation required to register on the census or to update data in the event of a change of address, as well as the procedure for carrying out these formalities. It also indicates how Spanish citizens should proceed in the event of moving to another municipality or country. The QR also provides information on the advantages, aid and programmes available to those who are registered on the census.

The paper support on which all this information appears contains the seeds of a plant inside. When the paper is submerged and placed in a pot, a plant sprouts. The idea is to establish a parallelism between the campaign slogan ‘Let's make our town grow’ and the growth of the plant contained in the information paper.

Last December the National Institute of Statistics notified the Town Council that the figure for the municipality, resulting from the revision of the municipal census as of 1 January 2023, is 25,854 inhabitants. This represents an increase of 1,758 new inhabitants since the last official figure. However, reaching this figure and avoiding the decline in the municipal census entails an intense task for the City Council.

In the last few years, the Municipal Census Department has implemented various actions to prevent population loss. One of the problems detected is the lack of information among citizens, who in many cases are convinced that they are already registered or are unaware of the need to renew the census if they are foreigners.

The Town Council estimates that hundreds of foreign residents are not registered with the INE because they have not renewed their registration in the municipal census, as by law EU residents registered in the Central Register of Foreigners or non-EU residents with long-term residence permits must renew their registration in the census every five years and the rest of foreigners every two years.

For this reason, the Town Hall has launched several campaigns, aimed at all citizens, foreign or not, resident in Calpe, to encourage them to register or renew their registration. Recently, the councillor responsible for the census, Paqui Solivelles, met with various foreign groups to inform them of the need to register and explain the procedure.

The Mayoress of Calpe, Ana Sala, and the Councillor for Residents, Marco Bittner, have held a meeting with the Deputy Delegate of the Government, Juan Antonio Nieves, to convey the need to strengthen the administrative services aimed at the foreign population of Calpe. Among them, they have requested that Calpe can host the itinerant service of the National Police to issue the Foreigner Identity Number (NIE), as well as the DNI service, which is issued in Calpe from time to time. The subdelegate has referred them to discuss this matter with the National Police, with whom a meeting is planned for the near future.

In this way, the aim is to prevent the foreign population living in Calpe from having to travel to obtain this document, which, once issued, allows them to request the digital certificate, in the case of Calpe, at the Citizen's Advice Bureau. And with the digital certificate they can carry out a large number of procedures.

Currently, 62% of Calpe's census population is made up of foreigners, so having a personalised service, with procedures such as the NIE, ‘would greatly promote the integration of these citizens, as well as improve their quality of life,’ explained the councillor for Residents, Marco Bittner.

During the meeting, the mayoress Ana Sala stressed the importance of offering administrative services that are adapted to the specific needs of the foreign population. ‘Calpe is a diverse and multicultural municipality, and it is essential that all our citizens, regardless of their origin, have access to adequate care to facilitate their integration and participation in local life,’ she said.

The Government Deputy Delegate of the, Juan Antonio Nieves, has informed them of resources to improve the attention to foreign citizens such as the existence of a program-contract of the Generalitat Valenciana that allows the City Council to hire a technician paid by the regional administration and that would be destined to these functions, something that the City Council is already studying to apply for.

Friday, 20th:

• From 18 to 1 h - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (Fossa beach).

• Presentation of the book ‘Peques detectives’ by Piedad Isabel Parra Garrido with illustrations by Laura Sofia Bittner Pozo. At 18:30 in the Saló Blau.

• Exhibition ‘Coast’ by Erin de Burka. Exhibition Hall of the Casa de Cultura. Until 30 September.

• Exhibition ‘Augmented Reality’ by Pedro Santos. Exhibition Hall of the Ajuntament Vell. Until 30th September.

• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the Calpe Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).
• Festivities in honour of Ntra. Sra. de la Merced. At 9 p.m. opening of the festive marquee in the parish church of La Merced and at 10 p.m. Nit de Coques and performance by Los Astrolabios.

Saturday, 21st:

• Festivities in honour of Ntra. Sra. de la Merced. At 18:15 procession and floral offering from the Plaza Mediterráni and mass. At 22:30 Musical performance by Los Anclas.

• From 18:00 to 1:00 - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).

• Exhibition ‘Coast’ by Erin de Burka. Exhibition Hall of the Casa de Cultura. Until 30 September.

• Exhibition ‘Augmented Reality’ by Pedro Santos. Exhibition Hall of the Ajuntament Vell. Until 30th September.

• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the CALPEEE Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

Sunday,22nd:

• Peñón de Ifach Swimming Crossing. From Cantal Roig beach, departure at 8:30 am.

• Festivities in honour of Ntra. Sra. de la Merced.. At 10 a.m. Children's go-karts and performance by Xaranga Clau de Fa in Plaza Colón. At 11:45 a.m. Cycle tour from Plaza Colón to La Merced. At 12h. Mass, at 13:30h. Batucada Batugaria, at 2 p.m. giant paella enlivened by ‘El payo que canta’.

• From 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).

• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the Calpe Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

Next week the Club de Pilota Valenciana de Calpe will participate in the Belgian town of Montignies-lez-Lens in the final phase of the Champions League de Llarges. This is a competition that brings together the 12 best teams in Europe and will be played on 27th, 28th and 29th September.

Coinciding with this important sporting event, the International Promotion Department has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the municipality in the Belgian market, a very important outbound destination. Through various promotional activities, Tourism aims to raise awareness of Calpe's tourism offer, focused on wellbeing, sustainability and cultural richness.

The aim is to position Calpe as an attractive destination for those visitors who are looking for authentic and quality experiences, outside the high seasons.

In addition, new collaboration opportunities are being explored with Montignies lez Lens, to strengthen ties and promote cultural and sporting exchange. This collaboration opens the way for relations between the two towns with the aim of promoting cultural and sporting exchange, as well as exploring new opportunities for tourism development.

The participation of the Club de Pilota Valenciana de Calpe in this top-level competition has been the perfect excuse to showcase the charms of our town in Belgium.

The Regional Ministry of Education has approved the decree for the creation of the new Les Salines Secondary School. According to the decree, the new centre, which has provisionally begun its activity in the Casa de Cultura Jaume Pastor i Fluixà, will have, when the new building is constructed, a capacity for more than 900 students: 600 of ESO, 210 of Baccalaureate and 96 of FP. In addition, it will be equipped with 20 units of Compulsory Secondary Education, 6 of Baccalaureate and 4 of Vocational Training (2 of Basic Vocational Training and 2 of Intermediate Vocational Training).

The new school is called Les Salines, as agreed by the School Council in homage to the natural environment of the town and after a participatory process in which several schools in Calpe submitted name proposals.

On the other hand, the awarding process for the company responsible for the construction of the definitive facilities is underway. This project is expected to become a reality in the shortest possible time, with the aim of offering the educational community adequate and modern facilities.

The creation of the IES Les Salines responds to the need to decongest the current IES Ifach and improve the quality of education in Calpe, ensuring proper attention to the demand for schooling in the different educational stages.

Calpe Town Council, through the Tourism Planning Department, has launched a campaign under the name ‘Take care of Calpe today. Enjoy it always’ with the aim of promoting responsible and sustainable tourism in the town.

The campaign consists of the dissemination of mupis with an image of the Penyal d'Ifac Rock from which a multitude of plants and plant species sprout and with a skirt full of trees to raise awareness among tourists and residents about the importance of caring for the environment. A leaflet will also be distributed with a decalogue of good practices to achieve a more sustainable Calpe. In this sense, there is an incentive to explore and protect Calpe without leaving rubbish, taking care of the biodiversity during the visits, to contemplate the fauna of Calpee from a distance, to reduce the use of water in showers and irrigation, as well as to use the containers correctly and to make a responsible consumption of energy. Tourists are also invited to share local traditions, to shop in Calpe's shops, to taste the local gastronomy in the town's restaurants and to stroll through the streets keeping the environment clean and well cared for, among other tips.

The leaflet will be distributed through letterboxes as well as from the tourist offices and has been published in Spanish, Valencian and English.

On the other hand, the campaign will be disseminated through bicycle mupis, mobile mupis that will spread the message of the need for a more responsible and sustainable tourism in different parts of the town. And the campaign will be completed with an online part through social networks and mobile geolocation.

This initiative is part of Calpe´s Tourism Sustainability Plan e and its offline part will be subsidised by the Patronato Costa Blanca of the Diputación de Alicante.

‘We wanted to use a striking image for the campaign in order to attract attention and call for reflection that if we do not take care of the Calpe of today, the Calpe of the future will be only a virtual reality, we will have nothing,’ said the Councillor for Tourism Planning, Mireia Ripoll. And she insisted that although the campaign is aimed at both tourists and residents, we want to emphasize the message that the tourist has the same responsibility as the locals to make Calpe a more sustainable and friendlier town’.

The Culture Council has begun restoring three emblematic spots of the historical and artistic heritage of the municipality that are in a state of deterioration. Specifically, these are two parts of the old wall and the Gastón Castelló mural in the Plaza del Mosquit.

The Culture Council has detected the deterioration of two areas of the old wall, specifically at the base of the Torreó de la Peça, where the mortar has been peeling away until the stone is exposed. The same is happening in the part of the wall closest to the bell tower. The rain and the weather have been eroding the structure so that the stone has been left bare.

For this reason, work has already begun to hire a specific restorer who will determine whether it is necessary to act urgently or whether the work can be prolonged through a tendering process.

Another of the artistic enclaves of the municipality that requires restoration is the mural by Gastón Castelló located above the tourist office in the Plaza del Mosquit. It is a large-scale mural by the Alicante painter and muralist Gastón Castelló, which is an allegory of old Calp: fishing, the Peñón de Ifach, crops and its inhabitants.

After the inspection of the archaeologist and the municipal architect together with the Culture councilor, it has been detected that the mural has detached several tesserae and the need to start the restoration process as soon as possible has been determined.

The Culture councillor, Guillermo Sendra, pointed out that: ‘it is a question of preserving our heritage in the best possible conditions; in recent years no action has been taken to maintain the wall and the wear and tear is becoming more and more visible. The same goes for the mural by Gastón Castelló, which is a unique work that we must maintain and enhance’.

Calpe Town Council plans to purchase adapted vehicles and equipment that will allow people with some kind of functional diversity to improve their experience when visiting the municipality. With this, it intends to make progress in its bid to become an inclusive tourist destination.

Specifically, four adapted vehicles are to be acquired: on the one hand, an all-terrain Joëlette chair that will allow its occupants to go hiking or for family outings in places inaccessible with conventional wheelchairs; on the other, an electric OPair bicycle, which is a bicycle with a built-in wheelchair, as well as two tandem bicycles that offer the possibility of enjoying cycling in pairs, allowing a person with reduced mobility to share the experience of pedalling with a companion.

In addition to these vehicles, two amphibious chairs and ten packs of amphibious crutches will also be purchased to improve accessibility on the beaches. The amphibious chairs allow users with reduced mobility to enjoy the experience of bathing in the sea (or in the pool) and at the same time facilitate their movement on the sand. And the crutches are characterised by a larger contact surface that prevents them from digging into the sand, as well as greater buoyancy and adequate support that facilitates entry and exit from the water.

With all this, Calpe aims to improve and expand the offer of inclusive and accessible tourism in the town. The project is part of the Tourism Sustainability Plan for Destinations (PSTD) with the support of the Valencian Regional Ministry of Tourism - Turisme Comunitat Valenciana - and the Secretary of State for Tourism in the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (in Spanish: PRTR) financed by the European Union - Next Generation.

The PSTD of Calpe establishes the need to make progress in the elimination of physical barriers in the town, which prevent or hinder people with disabilities from enjoying the tourist destination or any of the products and services. In fact, Calpe has a plan specifically aimed at accessibility: the Strategic Plan for Accessible Tourism. A line of work also contemplated in the Calpe Strategic Tourism Plan 2020 - 2030 as well as in the Calpe DTI Master Plan.

The purchase of these vehicles and equipment for people with functional diversity is currently under tender and has a base budget of 30,000 euros. Once this material has been supplied to the Town Hall, the tourist offices will make these adapted vehicles available to citizens who request them, while the amphibious chairs and crutches will be available at the adapted beach points.

This is the first action launched by the City Council as part of a wider project to consolidate inclusive tourism as part of the Tourism Sustainability Plan for Destinations. The project also includes carrying out annual awareness-raising and training campaigns aimed at all tourism stakeholders and citizens, as well as the installation of a lift in the Museu de la Senyoreta among other actions.

‘One of the strategic objectives of the Department of Tourism is to position itself as an inclusive destination, open to all visitors, so that anyone, regardless of their disability, can enjoy the places and tourist resources that Calpe has to offer,’ said the Councillor for Tourism Planning, Mireia Ripoll.

The plenary session of Calpe Town Council has unanimously agreed to ask the Regional Ministry of the Environment to declare a forestry health emergency due to the extreme situation being experienced by Aleppo pine trees as a result of the long drought that Spain is suffering.

As explained by the councillor for the Environment, Pere Moll, the prolonged drought in turn produces the proliferation of pests and in this sense, he pointed out that many pine trees are being affected by a parasite called Pine Wood Nematode which is spread to other pine trees by a native beetle. The wood nematode sucks the sap from the tree and causes it to wither and dry out.

‘This is a real problem and because of the impotence that this situation causes me, we are presenting this proposal so that the Regional Ministry declares the pine drought as a forest health emergency in the affected areas of the Valencian Community and mobilizes the necessary resources to deal with this critical situation,” he said, pointing out that Calpe is the first municipal corporation to request this from the Generalitat (Valencian regional government).

Calpe Town Council is also requesting an extraordinary budget allocation to finance a comprehensive contingency plan that includes measures for prevention, early detection, control and recovery of the affected ecosystems. It also asks the Regional Ministry to implement an Urgent Action Plan, which includes early detection and monitoring of the disease, as well as control of the vector (the beetle that spreads the disease), the elimination of the sources of infection and the elimination of diseased forest stands and their replacement by other native species, as well as the promotion of research into the disease and a plan to raise public awareness.

Beach regeneration

On the other hand, the plenary session of Calpe Town Council has also unanimously approved a request to the provincial Coastal Service for the regeneration of the municipality's beaches, especially those of Arenal-Bol and La Fossa. The proposal argues that these beaches have lost sand, specifically in the area of the Fossa beach closest to the Penyal d'Ifac and several areas of the Arenal beach such as in Borumbot or in front of the Hotel SolyMar.

According to a study carried out by the Institut d'Ecologia Litoral (IEL), this situation is due to the coastal dynamics of Calpe, i.e. the effect of sea currents. For this reason, Costas is requested to carry out a natural regeneration of these beaches, in a sustainable way and in accordance with the indications established in the study.

In Calpe, the only time the beach was regenerated was in the early 1990s when work was carried out to restore the Arenal - Bol beach.

Footbaths

Another of the issues dealt with in the plenary session was that of the footbaths on the beaches. In this regard, following the numerous problems in the operation of this infrastructure which have occurred this summer and which have led to many complaints from beach users, it has been agreed to request Turisme Comunitat Valenciana to delegate powers for the operation of the system of collection, pumping and distribution of water for footbaths on the beaches of Arenal-Bol and La Fossa. The aim of direct management is to improve the efficiency of the service.

This point was approved by the government team (Somos Calpe, socialist municipal group and Compromís) and Defend Calpe, with the PP voting against.

Modification of the Transport project

The plenary also gave initial approval to the modification of the Calpe public transport service project. Some improvements have been introduced after having been sent to the different administrations and operators involved, such as the use of more sustainable buses, which will involve an increase in the fee paid by the Town Council to make the service viable for the concessionaire, greater coverage to schools and the establishment of a violet point together with the Local Police checkpoint, a service on demand and which will allow women to take the bus more safely.

This is an initiative aimed at improving urban bus transport and will have three lines. The project will now undergo a new period of public information and if no new allegations are received, it will be definitively approved, which will allow it to go out to tender.

This point was approved by the government team and Defend Calpe with the abstention of the PP.

Calpe Town Council, through the Department of Economic Promotion, has launched a new Bono Comercio campaign with the aim of continuing to encourage shopping at local businesses.

Individuals over 18 years old (as of 1st June 2024), registered in the municipality, can benefit from this campaign. They can purchase through a consumer vouchers platform - bonocomerciocalpe.es - worth 20 €, 50 €, 100 € and 150 € each, which can be exchanged in the establishments participating in the campaign. In this edition, the maximum nominal value of the voucher has been increased for the first time to €150 (previously the maximum value of the voucher was €100).

The vouchers are 50% subsidised so consumers double the value of their purchase. Each citizen can apply for a maximum of €150 in vouchers and each voucher purchased can be redeemed on a single purchase which must be equal to or greater than the value of the voucher.

SMEs, small self-employed entrepreneurs or professionals with less than 50 employees can join the campaign by applying online through the platform provided by the collaborating entity Associació d'Empresa i Comerç de Calpe - empresarioscalpe.es - until 16 September. The deadline for submitting applications for the purchase of vouchers by consumers will be from 17 September to 12 October (both included).

The City Council will allocate 500,000 euros to this initiative, which will mean a total injection of 1,000,000 euros, between the municipal contribution and the citizens' investment. If at the end of this first phase there is still money available, a second call for applications will be launched in order to offer more opportunities for both traders and customers to benefit.

The Calpe government team will withdraw the point relating to the modification of the tax ordinance regulating the rate for household rubbish collection at the ordinary plenary session to be held tomorrow, Tuesday 10 September. This decision comes after detecting an error in the calculation of the fee.

‘We are going to withdraw the proposal from the agenda as it is null and void as there has been an arithmetical and material error in the calculation of the rate,’ said Mayoress Ana Sala.

The updating of the rubbish tax was to be carried out in accordance with the new state law on waste - in application of a European directive - and which requires that waste management in each town hall must not be loss-making, i.e. that the town halls must collect 100% of the cost of the service through the rubbish tax. A study phase will now start again to determine the new rate update.

Around 160 students have started the school year in the second Secondary School of Calpe, provisionally located in the Casa de Cultura. This is the start of this second centre, which has been so long awaited until its facilities are built in the Gargasindi area.

It has a total of nine groups: five of 1st ESO, two of 2nd ESO, one of 3rd ESO and one of 4th ESO. For this purpose, 11 classrooms have been set aside in the Casa de Cultura as well as two offices (one for the management team and the other for the guidance counsellor), in addition to two storage rooms. And this new centre will be staffed by 26 teachers as well as an English conversation assistant.

The second school already has all the necessary furniture and all that remains to be done is the installation of the fencing at the entrance, an aspect that is in the process of being managed. In the meantime, a registration system has been implemented which will allow the control of the entrance and exit of the students, guaranteeing security and order in the access to the centre. The City Council has also installed Wi-Fi connection in these premises, which has meant an investment of 4,000 euros.

For the first time in recent years, the opening of this second secondary school means that the Baccalaureate courses will once again be taught in the morning at IES Ifac, which started classes today with a total of 1,129 students, 950 of whom will attend the school in the mornings. In the afternoons, this centre offers Vocational Training courses - 1st and 2nd of Gardening and Floristry in both basic and intermediate levels, 1st and 2nd of Administrative Services in the three levels of basic, intermediate and higher and for the first time this year 1st of the basic level and 1st of the intermediate level of Computer Science.

This year, IES Ifac celebrates its 25th anniversary and for this reason, the City Council plans to organise a series of activities and events throughout the year, in collaboration with the centre, to celebrate this achievement and recognise the trajectory of this centre.

On the other hand, the rest of the schools have also started the school year: the Silene de Ifac nursery school, the Azorín, Gabriel Miró, Oltà and Mediterrani primary schools, as well as the Gargasindi Special Education Centre. The Town Council has carried out a number of improvements to these infrastructures: new toilets in the Oltà nursery school and repairs to the porch of the Gabriel Miró school.

The Family Respite Unit ‘La Casa Roja’ in Calpe currently serves 16 people with some form of cognitive impairment. This centre, which was inaugurated in May 2023 in the Casa Roja, hardly had any users a year ago due to the lack of knowledge about the existence of this new service as well as the lack of transport to this municipally owned building, located in the Cocó district.

However, the information offered by the Department of Social Services, which manages the registration in this centre, and above all, the implementation of a free municipal transport service, has meant that nowadays these facilities have a full capacity. Although its maximum capacity is 15 people, 16 are enrolled, as not all of them attend every day - it has a daily influx of 10 to 12 people -.

The ‘La Casa Roja’ family respite unit in Calpe is a municipal service offering its users a programme of activities to promote their physical and cognitive stimulation as well as to encourage their socialisation. In addition, it also provides a support service to the families of the sick and prepares them for the changes they will have to face as a result of the progressive deterioration of these illnesses. The centre is also a respite for these families, who will have more time to rest.

The programme offered runs for three hours every day from Monday to Friday, the only centre in the Valencia Region with such a wide range of services - this type of service is usually provided in day centres and residences for a maximum of one hour a day. And it is attended by three professionals specialised in the treatment of this type of illness: a psychologist, a speech therapist and a direct assistance person.

“Users enjoy personalised attention that not only improves their quality of life, but also offers an indispensable respite to their families, who rely on the centre for the daily care of their loved ones’, said the councillor for Social Welfare, Itziar Doval, and stressed the importance of continuing to develop and improve this type of resource, “with the aim of guaranteeing quality care and constant support for the families who need it most”.

Friday, 6th:

• From 18 to 1 p.m - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).
• 19 h - Workshop on Forest Fire Prevention. Sierra de Oltà Recreation Area. Pre-registration https://forms.gle/Z33XmrMhjiMRgDsW6. More information: info@ecosilvo.es.
• 7.30 p.m. - Opening of the exhibition ‘Coast’ by Erin de Burka. Exhibition Hall of the Casa de Cultura. Until 30 September.
• 8.00 p.m - Singer-songwriter Andreu Valor presents ‘A mamar, tots els versos’, a tribute to the poet Vicent Andrés Estellés on the centenary of his birth. Auditorium. Free admission.
• Exhibition ‘Augmented Reality’ by Pedro Santos. Exhibition Hall of the Ajuntament Vell. Until 30th September.
• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the Calpee Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

Saturday, 7th:

• From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. - Exhibition ‘Coast’ by Erin de Burka. Exhibition Hall of the Casa de Cultura. Until 30th September.
• From 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).
• 19 h - Theatre: ‘Parchís’ by Tomás Verdú. Auditorium. Free admission. For over 16 years old.
• 19.30 h - Guided tours of the Old Town. Compulsory registration at the tourist offices: 96 583 69 20 / 96 583 85 32 / turismo@ajcalpe.es). In Spanish.
• Exhibition ‘Augmented Reality’ by Pedro Santos. Exhibition Hall of the Ajuntament Vell. Until 30 September.
• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the Cofradía de Pescadores de Calpe (Calpe Fishermen's Guild). In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

Sunday, 8th:

• From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. - Yellow humour. Activities for children aged 10 and over in teams of four: sweeper, bubble football, climbing wall, gladiator... Prizes and much more. Parc de la Creativitat.
• After the 12 noon mass - Proclamation of the Merced festivities by Juan Carlos Ferri. Nuestra Señora de la Merced Parish Church.
• From 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).

• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the Calpee Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

The mayoress of Calpe, Ana Sala, together with the councillor for Town Planning, Juan Manuel del Pino and other members of the corporation, have visited the works of section 6 of road J, accompanied by the technical managers of the project, the project manager of the company PROCON and representatives of the construction company.

Section 6 of road J is the last segment to be executed of a project that originated in the 1989 General Plan and which will be one of the key initiatives of this term of office.

With this work, this road, which has been consolidated in phases, will come to an end. It will connect with sections 1-5 (which start at the Avenida de la Generalitat roundabout and end at the existing roundabout on Avenida Casanova through the Gargasindi area) and will connect Avenida Casa Nova with Avenida País Valencià and Avenida Rumania, making this section decisive in moving traffic from the beach area to the main road without having to go through Avenida Ejércitos Españoles and Avenida Diputación. This road, which, according to a plenary agreement, will be renamed Avenida Felipe VI, will relieve traffic congestion in the town centre.

This work, with a layout of more than 500 metres in length and a continuous width of 20 metres, includes all the necessary infrastructures, such as sewage networks, drinking water supply, street lighting, communications and sustainable urban drainage systems. In addition, the development of the road includes wide pavements, lanes for each direction of traffic and an inner median, with a tree-lined tree surround to improve the aesthetics and sustainability of the environment.

Mayoress Ana Sala stressed the importance of these works: ‘This will be the legislature of the roads and schools. We pledged to improve the road infrastructure of the municipality to facilitate access to urbanisations and decongest traffic, as well as to improve the educational situation, and we are fulfilling our commitment. The town is growing and is forcing us to adapt our infrastructures to the needs of the residents’.

The work on section VI of Avenida Felipe VI is not the only road project of this term of office. The Town Council also plans to upgrade the Puerto Blanco road (road T) and the Ràfol-Empedrola road (road E), works that residents have been waiting for many years. These actions seek not only to improve connectivity and access to different urbanisations, but also to decongest key traffic points in the town, making Calpe a more accessible place for its residents and visitors.

Juan Manuel del Pino, Town Planning Councillor, said: ‘These projects are a priority for us. We are putting all our efforts into making the roads operational as soon as possible to improve the quality of life of our citizens. We are satisfied with the pace of the works and with the commitment of the companies involved’.

The works on the Felipe VI road, which began in May 2024, have already completed the preliminary phases and are currently finalising the earthworks and wall construction. In the coming weeks, work will begin on the channelling of networks, drainage and general services. Although these actions will imply temporary restrictions of access to the road, the provision of services in the area will be guaranteed. The project is expected to be fully completed by May 2025, meeting the established deadlines.

The Governing Board agreed last Friday to request the Regional Ministry of Education, Culture, Universities and Employment to open a professional Music Conservatory and a professional Dance Conservatory in the municipality of Calpe.

To this end, the Town Council is making available to the Regional Ministry the facilities of the Casa Nova, which meets the requirements of multi-purpose classrooms that can be adapted to the needs of this type of centre. Thus, if the Regional Ministry authorises the creation of both Conservatories and provides them with teaching staff, Calpe could have an official Music and Dance Conservatory for the first time.

The Governing Board also agreed to ask the Regional Ministry for the Environment, Water, Infrastructures and Territory to convene the Governing Board of the Penyal de Ifach Natural Park to discuss the different needs of the municipality. The Governing Board, the park's management body, has not met for more than a year and is the body that debates and decides on issues relating to the operation and maintenance of the natural park.

Among the needs to be discussed at the Governing Board is to allow the installation of the information signage of Pobla de Ifach and the Park itself, which is currently in a state of disrepair. Another of the issues to be discussed by the Board is the authorisation for the MARQ to create a museum/interpretation centre of the Pobla de Ifach, in the building located within the Park itself. The idea is to set up the former Casa de Ilustres as a museum to house the remains of the Pobla de Ifach archaeological sites.

Finally, the Governing Board must also address the improvement of the treatment of the natural environment.

Calpe Town Council, through the Tourism and IT departments, has installed a digital kiosk in the tourist office in the salt flats, which will allow tourists to give their opinions on the tourist services received and thus find out their level of satisfaction.

This is an innovative pilot project in the evaluation of tourist services, within the framework of the Intelligent Tourist Destination. In this way, the data collected will make it possible to identify areas for improvement in customer service and to implement the necessary changes.

The kiosk will allow visitors to provide immediate feedback on their experience with the tourist services received. Intuitive touch interfaces and up-to-date software will be used for a smooth and efficient user experience and advanced analysis tools will be implemented in order to process the collected information immediately. Surveys conducted through the kiosk will be anonymous, thus ensuring user privacy and encouraging honest responses.

The kiosk used in this project comes from another department, so it has been given a second life promoting the circular economy in line with the sustainability objectives of the municipality. It is also optimised for efficient energy consumption to reduce the carbon footprint of the project.

After the pilot phase, and depending on the results obtained, it is planned to extend the number of these evaluation kiosks to other tourist facilities of Calpe Town Council. This expansion aims to create a comprehensive network of feedback points covering all aspects of the visitor experience in the municipality.

‘This initiative represents an important step in the transformation of Calpe into a Smart Tourism Destination, demonstrating the Town Council's commitment to service excellence, adapting to the changing needs of visitors in the digital age, and promoting sustainable practices and circular economy’, said the Councillor for Tourism Planning Mireia Ripoll.