Costa del Sol town announces new 'revolutionary' street cleaning plan following complaints from residents

The mayor's office in Torre del Mar on the eastern Costa del Sol has announced a reinforced street cleaning plan following an increase in complaints from residents. The mayor's office has divided the coastal town into seven sectors, with the frequency of action varying according to the volume of traffic and need.

There have been increasing complaints from residents and opposition political groups (Andalucía por Sí, PSOE, Vox and the independent councillor, Elías García) in recent months, at a time when the contract with the cleaning company, Althenia, from the Malaga group Sando, has been extended and is awaiting a new tender.

The deputy mayor of Torre del Mar, Jesús Carlos Pérez Atencia, presented on Friday 6 June a new cleaning plan which he said "will be revolutionary for Torre del Mar". He explained that it will involve "a weekly intervention in each of the sectors such as SUP-T12, El Tomillar, Viña Málaga and Sierra de las Nieves", as well as reinforcing the frequency of cleaning in the town centre.

Pérez Atencia said in a statement that this is "a pioneering initiative that renews and improves the cleaning plan" that already existed in Torre del Mar. "In the last few months we have detected a series of deficiencies in different areas which we have worked on to begin to carry it out in practice, taking advantage of these months of greater influx of visitors".

Sector one goes from Fenicios to Doctor Marañón, with 12 monthly actions. Sector two, from Dr. Marañón to Paseo Larios, will have 12 monthly actions. Sector 3 (Paseo Larios to Las Arenas), will have eight monthly cleans. Sector four (Avda. Colón to Las Melosas) will have four monthly cleans.

Sector five (Parque Móvil to Cooperativa San Valentín), will have four monthly actions; sector six (Calle del Río to Laureano Casquero) will have 12 monthly actions; sector seven (Laureano Casquero to Victoria Kent), eight monthly actions, and residential areas such as SUP-T12, Viña Málaga, Tomillar and Sierra de las Nieves, four times a month each.

According to Atencia, "this provides specific coverage for areas of conflict or with a high density of visitors, such as the area around nightclubs and event venues at weekends. The plan includes daily pressure washing, manual cleaning and intensive cleaning in the most sensitive areas. The plan includes work seven days a week, adapting the planning to the needs of the calendar, public events or specific incidents".

The councillor went on to say, "With this plan we reinforce our commitment to the image, health and wellbeing of our residents and visitors, ensuring that Torre del Mar looks as it deserves all year round. Finally, I would like to ask for the cooperation of the public in order to facilitate the cleaning work and we remind you that you can report any incidents or special needs through the municipal channels."

The opposition political party the PSOE in Vélez-Málaga and spokesman of the municipal group in the opposition in the town hall, Víctor González, has said that the reinforcement of cleaning in Torre del Mar "should also be applied in the rest of the municipality" and has accused the mayor of Vélez-Málaga, Jesús Lupiáñez (PP), of keeping a "complicit silence while the dirt spreads throughout Vélez-Málaga".

"We fully agree that Torre del Mar needs deeper cleaning, but we cannot create first and second class citizens. The lack of cleanliness is a common problem throughout the municipality," said González in a statement.