Special traffic, security and transport plan in place in Vélez-Málaga ahead of Dreambeach music festival

The Local Police will coordinate the operation which will run for two days from 7pm to 6am. Officers will be stationed at the main entrances to the venue, along the arrival and departure routes and in the designated parking areas.

One of the key elements of the plan will be traffic management. Vehicles will be channelled in stages towards different car parks, depending on current occupancy levels, with the aim of preventing traffic build-ups on the A-356 and at the nearby junctions on the A-7 motorway.

Organisers have made more than 3,000 parking spaces available, spread across three main car parks. The first will be located next to the La Pañoleta industrial estate; once it reaches full capacity, police officers will redirect vehicles to a second car park near the Aquavelis water park.

Should this area also fill up, a third parking area will be opened behind El Ingenio shopping centre. The Local Police will adjust the routes in real time, depending on how footfall develops, to keep traffic flowing and prevent drivers from searching for parking spaces on unauthorised roads.

The arrangements will also involve restrictions on Avenida Juan Carlos I and the section between the Aldi roundabout. The roundabout leading to El Ingenio will be closed to general traffic for the duration of the festival and will be reserved for emergency and security services.

Ambulances, fire engines, police vehicles, city buses and private coaches authorised to transport event attendees will be permitted to use this lane. Taxis will also be permitted access, but only for the purpose of picking up and dropping off passengers.

The Local Police may implement other exceptional measures depending on the volume of pedestrians and vehicles. These include temporary road closures, specific access restrictions, temporary changes to the direction of traffic and alterations to road signs.

The town hall recommends using the Camino de Torrox as an alternative route for journeys between Vélez-Málaga and Torre del Mar. It also asks people to follow the instructions of the police and to use only the designated car parks. The mayor, Jesús Lupiáñez, has stressed that coordination with the police, the emergency services and the organisers will be ‘crucial’ to ensuring the event runs smoothly.

Meanwhile, the SIPLG Local Police trade union in Vélez-Málaga, which has no representation at the town hall, has publicly denounced a "serious situation of disorganisation and lack of planning" within the police service, which, it claims, is exacerbated during the summer season. The union believes that the increase in population, the influx of tourists and the constant stream of events are not being matched by a sufficient increase in police numbers.

The trade union claims that, on numerous occasions, the entire municipal area has to be covered by just two patrols – a number it describes as insufficient given the size and complexity of Vélez-Málaga. It attributes responsibility both to the Local Police headquarters, for the operational management of the force and to the town hall from which it is demanding resources and proper planning.

According to the union’s account, only four additional police officers were deployed during the World Cup final celebrations despite the fact that a massive gathering was expected, which could have left the officers without sufficient resources to deal with fights, accidents, medical emergencies, traffic disruption and other incidents.

The statement adds that several police officers were pelted with glasses, ice cubes and other objects and that barriers were even thrown at police vehicles. The SIPLG believes that these risks could have been mitigated with a more extensive security operation and calls for "responsible" organisation to ensure both public safety and the physical safety of officers.