News: Urban Entity informal working meeting
Yesterday 2nd October, an informal working meeting on the ornamental lake was held, attended by the majority of Level 2 Presidents (Neil Simpson, Jorge Peña, Ellen Meland, Alan Burge and Irene Curtis), some Vice Presidents (Sophie Benoit and John Cox), the Urban Entity lawyer, and several members of inmho. The Urban Planning councillor from Alhama de Murcia council was invited, but he was unable to attend.
Different issues relating to the Urban Entity and the ornamental lake were dealt with.
The minutes of the last Meeting were discussed, as well as certain modifications to be made.
Although we are continuing to look at the viability of this, for the time being we have ruled out the possibility of purchasing or renting tanks for storing desalinated water as proposed in the Meeting, due to the high cost and not currently having a location for installing tanks of this size or the logisitics to make them operational (installation of pumps, valves, pipes, etc.).
What was agreed in the Meeting was repeated, in that until the reports are received from the experts, we will not go ahead with cleaning the lake, due to the complications that might be involved in removing the mud without due control, and the high risk of this causing damage to the waterproof canvas. Once the technical reports have been received and we agree on actions to be taken with the Council, we will go ahead accordingly.
We have formally requested the reports from the municipal technicians at Alhama de Murcia council, and the Urban Entity has offered to hold a meeting in order to discuss these reports.
We will look at the possibility of modifying the allocation of the WWTP and the desalination plant, although it was reported that modifying these kinds of concessions is very complicated.
In the event that liquidity is required in the Urban Entity, some Level 2 Communities (Jardines 1, Jardines 2 and La Isla), have shown their availability and willingness to advance the payment of their corresponding fees. This means, for example, paying the fees for the first quarter of 2025 in advance, and they would no longer have to pay these in the first quarter. This does not affect owners’ fees.
At the end of the meeting, the actions taken against debtors in the Urban Entity were clarified.
The Statutes establish that unpaid fees can be claimed, either by requesting the Council to directly require payment from debtors via the administrative payment route, with an immediate embargo in the event of non-payment, or by the Urban Entity itself bringing a court action before the Courts of Justice. Logically, the first channel is the most appropriate and effective.
Up to now, the Entity has not claimed the debt directly via the Courts of Justice, because it has had to deal with two long judicial proceedings started by one of the owners. In the first proceedings, the Court, in its ruling, set the correct criteria for the interpretation of the coefficients provided for in the Statutes of Entity for the calculation of the fees to be paid by the owners of unbuilt plots. In the second, recently won by the Entity, it was ratified that the calculation of fees made by the Entity, applying the criteria set in the ruling of the aforementioned first proceedings, was correct.
While these proceedings were being processed, the Entity was not able to judicially claim from debtor owners for unpaid fees, as it was necessary to wait for the final result of the abovementioned two proceedings.
In view of the above, the Urban Entity has spent years requesting Alhama de Murcia council to collect unpaid fees from the main debtor owners via the administrative payment route provided for in the Statutes of the Entity. However, the Council has failed to meet its obligation, with successive excuses. On various occasions, the Council has asked the Entity for additional documentation, or the correction of some documents and procedures. When these requests were met, the Council alleged other new reasons for not claiming the debts. The Entity has presented numerous letters and appeals without so far receiving a legally reasonable response from the Council.
This situation was explained to the new urban planning councillor at the last Meeting of the Entity. Now, with the new government team, we hope that the Council will comply with the provisions of the Statutes and claim debts from debtor owners via the administrative payment route, as this is the most appropriate and most effective legal channel. The administrators of the Entity have already presented the required documentation regarding one of the big debtors to the Council, and they will shortly present the rest.
In the event that the Council maintains the same line of passivity followed by the previous government team, the Entity will adopt the necessary measures, including judicial measures, in order to demand the payment of debts.
