Voting opens for Salacia or Poseidon to reign over Torre de Benagalbón promenade

Mayor of Rincón de la Victoria, Francisco Salado, was one of the first residents to vote for a new promenade for Torre de Benagalbón this week.

After four years of discussion and protests, residents are being asked to vote to decide which of two designs will be used to create a promenade along this stretch of beach.

One, known as Paseo Salacia, named after the Roman goddess of the sea, is more respectful to the environment. The other, Paseo Poseidon, is named after the Greek god of the sea and would be similar to the more traditional concrete promenades in neighbouring Rincón de la Victoria and La Cala del Moral.

Since the proposal was first put forward in 2014, citizens' group, Lirios de Mar, have campaigned against building on what they say is one of the last natural sand dunes in Malaga province. Last year they collected 6,000 signatures from people against the proposal, which they took to the town hall.

Salado has himself campaigned to make sure the end result respects the natural biodiversity of the area and announced on Tuesday that he had voted for Paseo Salacia.

Both designs feature green areas, playgrounds, benches and bike lanes and construction is expected to start in 2020. A budget of just under 35,000 euros has been set aside for the project.

Residents can either vote online or in any of the town hall offices until 25 December.