What is happening next to Casa Mediterráneo and Parque del Mar?
ADIF’s abandoned railway land once again condemns Alicante’s southern gateway to an endless wait. Efforts to reach an agreement between ADIF and Alicante City Council go back to 2012 and never came to fruition. More than a decade later, the disused tracks still cut us off from Parque del Mar and blight the area around Casa Mediterráneo.
On 10 September the mayor said that talks were going well and that he expected an agreement ‘very soon’. The announcements keep coming, but the physical barrier remains.
An order that must be enforced
Pressure from local residents has secured a concrete step forward. After we lodged a formal request on 11 May, the council ordered ADIF to clear its land, tackle the rat infestation and keep the site safe, sanitary and presentable. The order provides for fines to enforce compliance and allows the council to step in and carry out the work itself.
We explained in an earlier article why we welcomed that step while keeping sight of the need for a lasting solution. A written order only helps if it is enforced and the site is properly cleared, fenced off and protected against further occupation.
In the video we explain that ADIF has started administrative proceedings to evict the people living on the site. The process must respect social and judicial safeguards. It must also avoid becoming another excuse to neglect the land while the case is under way.
The risk of waiting up to another eighteen months
We also explain that the eviction requires court authorisation and that the judge must first receive a report from the council’s Social Services department. According to the estimate we shared, these steps and the courts’ heavy workload could mean the process takes between six and eighteen months. The estimate reflects the risk of delay. The court and the authorities have given no official timetable of that length.
We will not accept the tracks being left unattended throughout that period. The authorities can protect the welfare of the people affected while looking after the site. They must work together to fulfil both duties.
Two steps we demand now
1. Speed up social services reports
We ask the council’s Social Services department to prepare the reports required by the court as swiftly and diligently as possible, with the necessary resources and safeguards. Every delay prolongs a situation that harms both the people living there and the surrounding neighbourhoods.
2. Fence off and monitor the site
We demand immediate action from ADIF while proceedings are under way. It must install secure, effective fencing and monitor the perimeter 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to prevent further occupation and ensure neglect does not undo the clearance work.
Eight years lost for our neighbourhoods
Over the past eight years we have lost time that could have gone into providing children’s play areas, improving access and making Parque del Mar a climate refuge that everyone, including older people, can reach. We are asking for modest works at this stage. We want ADIF and the council to finalise the agreement and take immediate responsibility for the work that falls to each of them.
We address this demand to Transport Minister Óscar Puente and Alicante Mayor Luis Barcala, the politicians currently responsible. After so many announcements, it is hard to believe there is a genuine will to reach an agreement. We hope their actions prove us wrong.
Unless both authorities act quickly, the area will remain neglected and Parque del Mar will stay stuck in a siding. We want a signed agreement, deadlines we can check and results we can see on the ground.