Monday, February 23, 2009

STICKING IT TO SAN ROQUE TOWN HALL

On Saturday Ecologistas en Acción – Verdemar took its campaign to save the Pinar del Rey to San Roque town hall’s door – literally. Around 30 members of the environmental organisation in Cádiz posted stickers demanding ‘Pinar Si – Autovia No’ on the imposing wooden door.

Verdemar says it intends to fight on against the proposed road scheme that would endanger the 200 year old woodland, which is a vital green lung for the Campo de Gibraltar region and is home to important water aquifers. The ecologists stress that the road is not needed by the residents. It vows to take every legal action possible to stop the spending of public funds on a project aimed solely to meet the needs of heavy industry.

The environmentalists are convinced that socialist senator José Carracao and San Roque town hall are carrying out a campaign to stifle public protest ahead of a decision being made in Madrid to go-ahead with the road project. They also fear that in its wake land that is now protected will be opened up for development and the valuable environment of the Pinar del Rey will be destroyed.

Whilst Verdemar has vowed to demonstrate and take legal action to stop the road it has also called on all the political parties in the Campo de Gibraltar to state publically their policy on the road scheme.

Indeed this is not just an issue for environmentalists. The Pinar del Rey is vital for all of us who live in the Campo de Gibraltar. It is the weekend leisure ground for thousands of families in the Campo de Gibraltar and Gibraltar itself. Verdemar speaks for us all – but do our elected representatives?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, our elected representatives are curiously quiet over this- I have seen
Palma at the demos, no one else from the Town Hall really. Considering this
affects so much of the population in the area you would think that the local
mayors and councillors would have the nous to publicly support the appeal,
they seem to be keeping their heads well down- obviously they have their
reasons/agendas or whatever. It´s the whatever that worries me.