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The Camposol Legal Platform Against Biogas represented by President Julie Townsend and committee member Paul Drury, accompanied by Mazarrón Councillor for Camposol Carmen Navarro, met with Alfonso Baños, member of the Murcia regional parliament, to discuss the proposed Biogas plant approximately 1 kilometre from the Camposol urbanisation boundary.

 

The Platform explained that while they were in favour of biogas plants as part of the circular economy, the situation of such a plant in close proximity to a population nucleus could have multiple detrimental affects to residents and homeowners.

 

Mr Baños agreed that there was a necessity for these plants, which are being encouraged at EU, national and regional level as a means of disposing of waste, but that careful thought should go into the positioning of them to avoid impingement on residential environments and negatively affect the quality of life for local inhabitants, adding that similar reactions from local populations were being witnessed in some of the other locations in the region where planning for biogas plants has been submitted.

 

The parliamentarian went on to say that he would look into the matter and let the Platform know if there was anything that he could do.

 

The subject was also raised of the Rambla de Aznares, a dry riverbed that runs through Sector D of the Camposol urbanisation which infamously flooded in 2014, resulting in scenes of cars and even a swimming pool floating down the road.

 

Mr Baños is well aqcuainted with the rambla situation, being one of the team involved in compiling a Regional Assembly paper on the matter. One of the main recommendations was that a round table should be formed consisting of the CHS (Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura, part of the national rivers authority), the Murcia Regional Government and Mazarrón Council tasked with finding a solution to the problem.

 

Although studies report that the probability of another flood is not great, particularly after work was carried out in Totana, the problem and conflict over the land still remains. The round table has convened twice with a re-channelling option (referred to as “Alternativa 4”) being chosen for further study. Mr Baños made inquiries and confirmed that “Alternativa 4” had been confirmed as the course of action.

 

However, the question of who will pay the approximately €2 million to carry out the work remains unresolved. Even though a court ruling absolved Mazarrón Council of blame, instead placing the culpability on the CHS for reporting there were no ramblas in the building area, the CHS seem unwilling to foot the bill.

 

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