Ronda News

Ronda to get Viticulture Centre of Training

Last week the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and representatives from the Ronda city council signed an agreement to create a centre of wine development in the city, one of just 43 lighthouse projects being planned around Spain.

Valued at 2.5 million Euros the project will see Ronda become home to a centre of training and wine development, cementing the developing status of Ronda wines as important to wine production in Spain, and adding to the nations export potential.

The old water tower in the industrial area of Ronda has been chosen to be redeveloped and would include an experimental wine tasting area, laboratory analysis, multimedia centre, and training for viticulturists. The centre is expected to be operational by the end of 2011.

Choosing the old water tower is seen as positive and would prevent decay of the architecturally impressive building which has been described as having historical interest, and with an area of 1285 sqm is certainly large enough, though is in an unusual location.

Source within the council suggest the location may not be completely suitable and by the time the project is eventually finalised may be relocated out of Ronda into the surrounding district.

Ronda News

Ronda councillors subject to more transparency

The monthly council meeting in Ronda finally approved a significant and surprising anti-corruption measure that will see the personal financial affairs of all councillors and their spouses made available on the city council website www.ronda.es.

Aiming to exceed national transparency laws and prove to the people of Ronda that the council is committed to transparency, all parties represented in council unanimously approved the motion with the exception of the Izquierda Unida (IU) representative who didn’t attend for personal reasons.

The PSOE spokesperson Francesco Cañestro stated this move is in accordance with an agreement reached at the PSOE regional congress, though residents shouldn’t be too excited about getting to know all of their councillors private lives. The vote only provides for publicly available information to be published on the council website.

Ronda’s mayor Antonio Marín Lara described the motion as a triumph for the people of Ronda, and said the aim is to make publicly available information easy to access from a single page instead of requiring multiple visits to official offices.

The Partido Popular’s (PP) whilst voting in favour of the motion also warned that this measure may have a double purpose. Spokesperson Mari Paz Fernandez hoped the motion wouldn’t be used against councillors, citing a current investigation against the IU for irregular donations to the party as cause for concern.

Ronda News

Ronda tourism gets accessibility, and a film festival

Ronda was recently represented at an international travel exposition, la Feria Internacional de Turismo (Fitur) in Madrid by the mayor Antonio Marín Lara and councillor for tourism Maribel Morales along with Alfredo Carrasco of CIT, and a small group of officials from the office of tourism and local business people.

Invited to participate by the Costa del Sol Tourism Board, Ronda representated the entire Serranía, including local villages such as Benaojan, Gaucín, Setenil, Grazalema, and displayed information about the three natural parks surrounding the Serranía.

The Serranía de Ronda is often under-represented within the travel industry, and is considered by many travel operators to be an inland Costa del Sol daytrip, a mindset the official tourism offices in Ronda are keen to dispel.

Major projects announced at this years Fitur were the accessibility of Ronda program, and further strengthening of the twinning relationship with the city of Cuenca in Castilla-La Mancha.

Over the next few months significants parts of the main tourist walk in Ronda, including streets in the old town, will be upgraded to make it convenient for people with limited mobility to enjoy the sites of Ronda. Unfortunately the cost and difficulty of making monuments such as the Mondragon Palace accessible isn’t possible.

However Ronda Today has learned the Arab Baths will soon be accessible to people in wheelchairs, a major step forward (pardon the pun) given the significance of Ronda’s Arab Baths in Western Europe. As well, the historically important Acinipo ruined city will soon also be more accessible to people of limited mobility.

Ronda’s twinning with Cuenca is to receive a major boost under an EU program. 300,000€ of European money has been allocated to encourage closer working between Ronda and Cuenca which both share a similar topology with an older city, gorge, and hanging houses.

Expertise in attracting tourists to Ronda will be studied by officials from Cuenca, a program Ronda tourism hopes they will be able to export to other cities.

At Fitur, Ronda’s mayor Marín Lara also announced the creation of a new film festival, the political film festival of Ronda, to be held annually in the city and will be a grade two festival, equivalent to the Berlin Film Festival.

This marks a significant development in the media industry in Ronda, which is also home to the Business Media School. Ronda’s political film festival in 2010 is scheduled to run from 27th November to 4th December, and has the financial backing of the Ministry of Culture in Madrid.

Ronda News

Military Barracks in Ronda to be Demolished

Yesterday at 12:30 the first stage of the demolition of the old military barracks in the centre of Ronda began, with Ronda’s mayor Antonio Marín Lara looking on.

Known as the Cuartel de la Concepción, the barracks comprise an entire city nlock, bounded by Calle Chica, Calle Lauría, Calle San José, and Calle Naranja. The barracks are diagonally opposite Ronda’s bus station.

Recently the Ronda town council agreed to buy the dilapidated barracks from the Ministry of Defence for the sum of 3.6million Euros to be paid over a number of years. Since it’s abandonment several years ago the barracks have been over run by rats and mice, and parts of the building are now starting to collapse.

The heavy rains in December and January caused severe damage to the roof of the building adjacent to Calle Chica, and after roof tiles and chunks of concrete started to fall, a decision to bring forward the demolition was made.

Coincidentally, the headquarters of the PSOE is in Calle Chica and is one of the neighbours adversely affected by the possible collapse of the barracks building. Ronda’s Partido Popular (PP) have suggested the imminent collapse is a cynical excuse offered by the mayor to pacify the PSOE party faithful.

Demolition is likely to be completed in three months and will cost 600,000€, of which around 50% will be spent removing asbestos roofing, which under Spanish law must be removed by trained professionals and disposed of in a prescribed manner to avoid asbestos dust escaping.

Initially the interior of the building will be demolished by heavy machinery, and the waste used to build ramps so that the higher external walls can be pulled inwards without risk of falling on the street or neighbouring properties.

After demolition is complete, a parking space for upto 200 cars will be created, and the decision of what to do with the space left until after the next Ronda municipal elections. The PSOE favour building an underground carpark for 600 vehicles, and a new town hall above ground. The opposition suggest this isn’t needed and the space could be sold to generate income for the city.

Ronda Today was invited to attend the pre-demolition tour with Marín Lara, our photos are below.

Ronda News

Isabel Barriga to Lead PA for Mayor’s Job

Yesterday the Partido Andalucista (PA) voted to confirm Isabel Barriga as their candidate for mayor in the next municipal elections. Daniel Harillo was voted number two.

The PA is attempting to rebuild the party throughout Andalucía after a series of defections caused by internal fighting, the most serious being the abandonment of the party by Ronda’s mayor Antonio Marín Lara and eight former PA councillors. Continue reading Isabel Barriga to Lead PA for Mayor’s Job →

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