Both municipalities have received the same request to propose land within 10 days, but the letter addressed to Manilva includes harsh criticism for not acting, according to the Diputación, with institutional loyalty.
According to information obtained by this newsroom, the Diputación Provincial de Málaga today sent an official letter to the town halls affected by the closure of the fire service outpost (Manilva and Casares), requesting, within a maximum of 10 days, a proposal for one or more viable municipal plots on which the new fire station could be built.
The document, signed by the second vice-president of the Diputación and president of the Provincial Fire Consortium, Manuel Marmolejo, recalls that this new station will be fully funded by the provincial institution, provided that the municipalities provide land that meets the technical criteria:
- Immediate access to high-capacity roads.
- Minimum area of 2,500 m².
- Public ownership and free of encumbrances.
- Access to basic utilities and communications coverage.
SAME REQUEST, BUT DIFFERENT TREATMENT
Although the technical content of the two requests to which we have had access is the same for both municipalities, the letter addressed to Manilva Town Hall includes an additional paragraph not present in the document sent to Casares, in which the Diputación directly reproaches the Manilva council for its attitude in recent days, for taking the originally agreed approach out of context, and for a lack of institutional loyalty, as stated in the letter sent to the Manilva council:
“All of this is based on the principles of institutional loyalty and the duty of collaboration and cooperation set out in articles 3.1 and 140 of Law 40/2015, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector, which this administration has been faithfully fulfilling throughout this entire process. The same cannot be said of that Town Hall, whose conduct, we regret to inform you, does not comply with those principles.”
The sentence, which is not included in the document sent to Casares Town Hall, is clearly aimed at the statements made by some spokespersons at the council meeting of 5 June, the posts published by municipal sources and the mobilisations that could have led to a formal breakdown of institutional dialogue, aggravating the conflict already open between Manilva Town Hall and the Diputación following the closure of the outpost.
THE NEW INFRASTRUCTURE AT STAKE
The Consortium points out that the choice of land is an essential condition for starting to draw up the technical project and put the building works for the new fire station out to tender; the station will serve Manilva, Casares, Sabinillas and the surrounding areas.
The firefighters have currently been transferred to the central station in Estepona, a measure that has drawn widespread criticism over response times and the lack of direct coverage in densely populated areas.
The countdown has begun. Manilva and Casares have until 23 June to offer viable alternatives. But political discontent threatens to hinder a process that should focus, as many residents are demanding, on a single priority: the safety of the public. While the clock starts ticking, Manilva Town Hall is continuing its campaign to collect signatures on Change.org and at local businesses, which has already gathered more than 1,000 signatures.
