Nerja residents face increase in parking fees

RESIDENTS in Nerja are up in arms about having to pay 300 per cent more to leave their cars in the town’s largest parking area.

For the past decade, no-one has had to pay to park in Los Huertos del Carabeo, where there is space for some 1,000 vehicles, but since June they have had to pay €7 per month to do so.

Being able to maintain the car park at a price which no-one considered too high was thanks to the mayor, Jose Alberto Armijo, holding negotiations with the businessman who owns the land, who bought it in the 90s to build houses on.

However, since the fair this month, the price has been put up to €16.7 per month. For registered residents of the town who live in the 16 streets surrounding the area the best price is €50 for 90 days, or €22 per month.

Residents who do not live in calle Balcon de Europa, Puerta del Mar, Gloria, San Jose, Arropieros, Trancos, Parras, Almirante Ferrandis, Pintada, Carretas, Huertos, Carabeo, Prolongacion Hernando de Carabeo, Frigiliana, plaza del Olvido, Prolongacion de Andalucía and Rodriguez Acosta will have to pay €75 for 90 days, or €30 per month.

The town hall governing team, the conservative Partido Popular, has now only said that it is a “private business” and that the agreement was only “temporary”.

Meanwhile, the opposition socialists PSOE and left-wing Izquierda Unida have complained that the land should not be used for commercial activities at all, according to the local General Plan for Urban Development.

Anyone visiting the town would have to pay €1.8 per hour during the week, with a maximum of €15.6 per day and €18 maximum at the weekend, to park in the area.

By Jennifer Leighfield