Several neighboring communities affected by the construction of a new gas station on Avenida de Mijas, have started a campaign of protests to stop the municipal license, since they consider that the future service station will cause traffic and safety problems, against which they have collected more than 500 signatures, according to Daniel Pérez, a resident of the area. The City Council indicates that “the plot is commercial and collects the use” of it.
Like this it has indicated it after maintaining this Thursday a meeting with the Town Planning Councilor, Andrés Ruizwhere “some regulatory issues” have been addressed and the municipal official has been willing to “Support the neighbors within the legal margins”.
Pérez has indicated that despite the fact that the meeting has been satisfactory and that the neighbors have left “very satisfied”, they continue to show their rejection of the construction of a gasoline multinational oil company Galp, who plans to implement “a new service station in about land adjacent to the Pueblo La Campana urbanizationat number 45 of the popular Avenida de Mijas, just 10 meters away from the homes”.
The The main concern of the residents is the “safety”, and although they are aware that “it is unlikely that today an accident will occur in a facility of this type, the truth is that there really is no such thing as zero risk”, they have highlighted from the urbanization.
In this way, they have indicated that “they do not want to live with the worry that some misfortune may happen tomorrow”, to which they have added the fact that “just 30 meters away there is a highly flammable coal and firewood storage”. According to the complainants, there are also “five schools within a radius of 300 meters and the parents have already shown their concern as well.”
In the environmental aspect, the neighbors do not understand “how at a time when it is necessary to substitution of fossil fuelsand even the European Union has approved the end of combustion cars by 2035, the construction of a new gas station is proposed”, just as they have criticized the “saturation of service stations” in the area.
On the other hand, the residents have valued that although the land where this facility is intended to be built “it is classified as commercial” according to the General Urban Planning Plan (PGOU) of 1998, the truth is that “it is still part of a virtually wild environment where protected animals such as the apple tree hedgehog live.
There is also the circumstance thatthe María Barranco stream runs just five meters from the fuel tanks” and which ends at Fuengirola beach, a distance that “complies with the regulations”, although they have assessed that despite the fact that “the developer has more than sufficient means for its projects to comply with the law, nobody can guarantee in the long term that there will be no leaks.”
Likewise, the residents have alluded to the mental health problems that the installation of the service station can cause, since the area of the urbanizations El Coto, La Sierrezuela or Pueblo Campana “She is known for her calmness.”
In this sense, they have criticized that “a service station, which also includes a car wash, will significantly increase traffic in the areawhich will producenoises and annoyances that will prevent proper rest of the neighbors”.
At this time, they have indicated that “the project is in the allegation rectification phase in the Urban Planning area of the Mijas Town Hall, “so the residents of Mijas Avenue have already collected more than five hundred signatures against the gas station” and they hope to “exceed a thousand”. The campaign has also started on social networks, as well as planning to organize demonstrations.
For its part, the Consistory has highlighted that “heThe plot is commercial and collects the use of a service station”while he has stressed that “helicenses are acts regulated by law and if the parameters are met, they must be given, the City Council cannot refuse. In addition, the owner of the land already has the “favorable sector report from the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture, Fisheries and Sustainable Development.”