Torrenueva protests

Torrenueva residents are up in arms about plans to build a new petrol station at the entrance of their urbanisation.

Frustration has blown up into protests at plans which many residents were previously unaware of. Despite complaints over the close proximity of the planned A7 service station, environmental concerns and claims that the new site will cause more traffic problems on that stretch of the A7, Mijas council have just thrown their hands in the air and blamed the previous administration for signing off on the project.

One of the largest urbanised developments in the Mijas Municipality, Torrenueva’s residents are up in arms over the project located just 800m from another existing petrol station.  Over 3,000 signatures have already been collected on a public mass petition and residents are planning a series of protest actions in order to stop construction.

This will be the second set of protests against planned petrol stations in the Mijas area in which the previous municipal administration has been accused of failing to run proper public consultations and environmental impact assessments. In July this year, a construction company was ordered to halt construction of another service station in El Coto, near Las Lagunas, Mijas, when neighbours of the area complained that they had not been consulted by the council, also headed by the previous Council. 

Another similarity in the two cases is that correct environmental study procedures appear to have not been completed, offering some hope to the residents of Torrenueva that this project will also have its licence removed. But if like in the El Coto case, there will probably be a 2-year wait to find out the result of the case. Local residents are currently collecting signatures against the proposed petrol station at change.org.