Cabo de Palos residents protest against Blue Trail plans

The Town Hall of Cartagena defends a project to “re-naturalize” the southern coast of Cabo de Palos

The Town Hall of Cartagena is once again being forced to realize that its plans for the “greater good” of the municipality do not always meet with the approval of those who are meant to benefit most from them: in other words, the people who actually live in the areas affected.

The latest example of this apparent divergence between the intentions of the council and the wishes of the residents has come to light in Cabo de Palos, where the Town Hall has found itself forced to defend plans to create an “accessible path” from the Muro de la Sal in the port to the lighthouse, guaranteeing easy movement for all along the series of coves on the southern shore and adhering to sustainability criteria.

As ever, this project is justified by the claim that it is in response to demands from the people in the area and has been approved by them.

However, the events of Sunday seem to show that a large proportion of public opinion is in fact the opposite. A crowd numbering around 100 gathered to protest against what they see as “urbanization” of the remaining unspoilt coastline, waving placards and banners and chanting slogans against the scheme.

According to their claims, what started out as being a “repair” project has now become an “urban development”, and rather than simply “rectifying flaws” in the existing paths it now includes coloured concrete, streetlights, benches and viewing points along one of the last stretches of untouched coastline close to the centre of Cabo de Palos.

They fear that what is currently a natural path followed by bathers heading for the coves will becoming a mainstream tourist thoroughfare, bringing large numbers of people to a small area which is still fundamentally wild. At the same time, there are worries that the installation of streetlights could affect the wildlife in the area, while overall pollution and littering are bound to increase.

Over 1,000 signatures have been collected to complain about the project, requesting that it be placed on hold immediately and that a full description of what is entailed be made available for inspection. At the same time, they demand that the real priorities of the residents be prioritized – a complaint which will certainly ring a bell with many more in outlying districts of the large municipality of Cartagena.

In the face of the criticism, Councillor Álvaro Valdés points out that the project already has all the necessary levels of approval to go ahead and on Sunday repeated his claim that it has come about as a result of requests from the residents themselves. It is “designed to improve an area which needs to be made safer and more accessible”, he added. Both the Neighbours’ Association and representatives of local businesses are in favour of the “re-naturalisation”, according to the Councillor.