The long-standing works on the storm drains close to La Zenia beach have come to a halt for a few weeks ago in an attempt to avoid hindering the traffic of bathers during the summer. However, bathers at the sandy beach Cala Bosque have been perplexed to see that the few parking spaces for disabled people that were situated around the Avenida de las Palmeras, have disappeared.
One of them those affected is Charo. With a second home in La Zenia, she explains that she can no longer go down to the beach, where she usually spends time with her 94-year-old disabled mother, because the few disabled spaces have been closed.
“Dropping disabled people off in the area was already complicated because the pavement is extremely narrow and dotted with street lamps and palm trees, but now there are no spaces at all,” she said. “I have often called the police when I have seen cars parked illegally in disabled spaces, many of them foreign, but either they take a long time to arrive or they don’t even bother,” she says.
Another of the users is Luis Carcedo. Spokesperson for the Aidoc neighbourhood association and member of the Municipal Accessibility Board. He has had similar experiences himself as he is in a wheelchair. He also says that many of the parking bays lack the necessary space, which by regulation must leave enough area on both sides of the vehicle for both the driver and the co-driver to get out.
Carcedo has urged the Council to urgently convene the Municipal Accessibility Roundtable, which he says has not been held during the lifetime of this current council. In his opinion, Orihuela has not taken steps to improve accessibility for years. “The Council does not even set an example because its town hall on the coast does not have an adapted toilet,” he added.
Carcedo, has contacted a council advisor who told him that the work will be resumed in October and that, from then on, the spaces will be recovered.
