VEÏNS DE PARCENT - DIARY OF EVENTS 2006-2007

Parcent is a small village in the Marina Alta, in the province of Alicante, with 1000 inhabitants.

30 January 2006 Protest in the Council Meeting when 3 were provisionally passed and draft General Plan introduced. Only 50 people allowed into the town hall and 200 more people protested in the street in pouring rain.

February Went to first demonstration in Valencia.

March Went to the Greens conference in Madrid on development abuses.

11 March Demo in Parcent with 2000 people, according to the press.

22 March Spontaneous demos against President of the Diputación when he came to open the square - he abandoned it.

25 March Walk around the perimeter of El Replá with Joan Pellicer, ethno-botanic professor.

25-26 March Medieval Fare - Collected signatures for petition to European and ombudsmen. An attempt was made by our local police woman to stop this, at the Mayoress' instigation, but 100 people signed the form presented then continued to collect signatures.

27 March The Mayoress called a Council meeting at 8 a.m. - we were there.

28 March Petition presented to SindicGreuges in Alicante. Final number of signatures 1673.

1 April We took part in a National Citizens' Movement against Urban and Environmental Abuse in Murcia. Other members went to Valencia to demonstrate against high tension power fines

6 April Petition to the European Parliament presented, with a final total of 3390 signatures.

1 May Protest walk and picnic to the La Foia well.

2 May The chairman of the EU Petitions Committee wrote to the vice-president of the Generalitat to complain of urbanising activities and quoting his preoccupation in the case of Parcent.

14 May Protest walk along the PRV-158 track to the Carrascal mountain.

3 June Full bus of members attended the protest in Valencia demanding a moratorium on building.

Summer Design and sale of our "Soc de Poble" t-shirts. A real success!

20 June Local Agenda 21 meetings started, to which we were not invited. They said they did not know who we were.

22 June Presented 1700 signatures in a petition to the Defensor del Pueblo.

27-28 June Invited by the Green Party to the European Parliament in Brussels. Spoke to the Spanish minister of the Environment, Cristina Narbona.

6 July The town hall decreed the official public exposition of the draft General Plan (now modified from the January version). It was not published in the DOGV until the end of August and we were fortunately able to make allegations against it in September.

14 July Showing of the documentary film on "Urbanism in the Marina Alta."

9-15 August San Lorenzo fiestas. Parody on Marbella in the parade of disguises.

20 August Took part in "Arrels" (Roots) a musical festival against the depredation of land.

September Our administrative case against the town hall is admitted by the TSJ of the GV.

21 Sept Meeting of the association to explain the draft plan. The Mayoress attended and lied to us- nothing new.

27 Sept Visited the Valencian parliament to support the EU - Els Verds L'Entesa proposal that our PAIs be thrown out.

2 Oct We supported the CDP when they abandoned a council meeting after the Mayoress threw out a journalist for taping and photographing the session - democracy??

5 Oct 528 adults, with property interests in the municipality, signed allegations against the draft General Plan.

17 Oct Took part in the Local Agenda 21 discussions, but denouncing that it has been turned into a mere travesty of popular participation. They start with the PAIs and then ask the people what they want? Three meetings in all were held.

20 Oct A walk through the village, the participants demanding sustainability, and that the Town Hall listen to the people. Followed by a supper with 100 people present - more wanted to attend but there was insufficient room in the restaurant.

8 Nov The Sindica de Greuges report on our petition supported our claims, especially regarding the lack of water (no report from the CHJ water board), criticising the councillors who had voted for the PAIs, and recommending paralysing their processing. No comment from the town hall at all.

11 Nov Our case, that had appeared more than 250 times in the press, as well as on radio, really came to the fore with the appearance of the TSJ'sdecision to suspend all work on El Replá PAI until the full judgement on the case was given, giving reasons of sustainability and of no General Plan for the village. This is the case brought by the Barranquet POA. This quickly became known as the "PARCENT DOCTRINE" and was reported at national level. It had a knock-on effect on many other plans that were being contested over the following weeks and months.

28 Nov We were invited to present our EU Petition to the Committee in Brussels. Of the 6 members, 5 supported our case. A visit to Parcent was proposed by Michael Cashman, which was subsequently confirmed. The Mayoress had come uninvited to this meeting and called us "malicious and manipulative", and giving false information. She then lied to the press, saying that she had invited the Committee to visit Parcent.

4 Jan 2007 The second judgement to suspend El Replá process, with the same reasons given. This was the case brought by our association.

25 Jan Visit to the offices of Ballester in Benidorm to ask for an interview and hand in a dossier. By chance the minister for the Environment was in Benidorm and we succeeded in seeing her and she was very supportive of our case.

30 Jan Anniversary of the first council meeting - protest meeting in the square, with a walk around the village, umbrellas and Parcent's tomb; and the complete recording of the Brussels meeting in November at which the Mayoress' speech denigrating us was clearly heard.

3 Feb The Defensor del Pueblo's report supported completely the report by the Sindica de Greuges.

7 Feb The town hall published an Information Bulletin giving details of developments in the village, but without referring to any of the matters that had gone against them. In the "interview" with the Mayoress, she said that the people against her plans are badly informed!

23 Feb Over 130 Veïns celebrated our Winter Dinner at the Cooperativa.

1 March A delegation from the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament came to Parcent during their third visit to the Valencia region to investigate so-called Land Grab problems. The delegation was well received, and heard first-hand the worries and concerns of the villagers.

8 Feb Jacqui Cotteril travelled to the European Parliament headquarters to deliver yet more evidence to bolster our fight against those who would destroy our village.

28 March The EU Petition's committee released a preliminary report concerning the recent visit to the Valencia region. It was bad reading for the Valencia government and property developers.

1 April The Veïns watched another film. "Green Paradise" is a chilling account of how rampant construction is destroying our country.