Present :
Chairman, Phil Gelling (PG)
Colin Barton (CB); Gordon Cockburn (GC): Derek Gormley (DG); Rob Humphreys (RH); John McCracken
(JM); Jayne Miller (CJM); Dave Redford (DR); David Shackleford (DS)
1. Apologies for Absence :
None received – all members present
2. Minutes of the Meeting held 16 September 2019 :
It was noted that item 4 did not clearly explain that the only legal case still outstanding is a resident’s case
for fraud which was initially supported by the CRA. All other CRA legal cases have been dismissed by the
Fiscalia (Public Prosecutor) due to Statute of Limitations issues.
With this amendment the minutes were accepted and duly signed.
3. Matters Arising
None arising not covered by the agenda.
4. Outcome from visit by Regional Minister for Industria, Empresa y Portavocia and aftermath
Gota Fria
No comment.
5. Roads and General Police attendance
The CRA is pleased there is much visible attendance on Camposol, which has resulted in lawbreakers being
fined and illegal cars removed. Noted to have been in attendance again today.
DS commented on drunk drivers – mostly British – resulting in stigmatisation? Taxi drivers won’t come on
because of drunkards – bus drivers don’t like Camposol
6. Crisis Team
No further action. PG had discussed with John Mansell who was not pursuing the matter and all other
volunteers had ‘disappeared’.
7. Membership Questionnaire
It seemed there was no action requested through the website etc, other than responses for the Spanish
lessons. Therefore we could assume we are doing the right thing and apparently communication issues are
resolved by adequate use of website and Facebook pages.
8. Legal Position
See item 2 – nothing outstanding.
9. Future Initiatives
DS suggested we need maps to identify private -v- public roads. Armed with this we can approach
individual poligonos to suggest actions.
Budget information and details of projects had been requested by Silvana (SB) – CB has provided
information accordingly, as have many of the groups.
It was noted that the Association has surplus cash and in view of the fact that not all properties have
swimming pools. CB suggested approaching Mariano to reinstate and open up their pool. CRA could work
with them to fund cleaning and tidying etc, then sponsor a lifeguard. CB to follow up
10. Assets – Archived Data
PG commented that identifying historical records was proving a nightmare. He had eventually received the
filing cabinet but found nothing within. Someone has cleaned out the documents. There remains only a
laminator, a ‘company’ stamp and 7 boxes of sleeves for membership cards. Also there is a small white
filing cabinet to pass on. Currently PG is holding what documentation he can find but concerned that it
should not be held by one person.
PG still has hard drive with some software replicating the website. PG to follow up with Matthew at Tech
Shop to precisely identify content.
11. Meeting with Accountant
Email has been sent to Tina Luiz, resulting in a response saying all up to date and she will make contact
when necessary. She also looks after details of committee and officers of the Association, which needs to be
updated.
12. Spanish Classes
Classes advertised on the website and various Facebook pages – 61 responses received 51 absolute
beginners – all application to be made through website. If all these enrol at €3 donation per lesson, we will
have €90 per week income. Lynn being paid €30 per hour. A meeting to be arranged with Lynn who had
expressed concern that if there was not regular attendance by students, lessons may be less than efficient
and ways must be found to avoid absenteeism.
13. Mayoral Meetings
Meetings scheduled for 19 Oct and 21 October JM, GC, DG, DS and CJM attending on 19th
No appointment had been arranged for CRA to meet with the mayor – PG to arrange.
14. Issues from Gardening Groups
DG and CB had arranged for meeting of gardening groups with TH – all had met together at a pre-meeting
to decide what was required across all sectors.
Priority was covering the cost of pruning palm trees on public roads. Now B and C had contracted out this
work and would TH assist?
Suggested reinstatement of faded road markings – again public roads should be dealt with by TH.
Sleeping policemen suggested to limit speeding, particularly dual carriageways.
Weeding and spraying central reservations, B group suggested digging out by hand to take care around
power cables, then gravelling.
Ownership of the waste ground behind Trevi was queried – SB investigating. Gardening groups had
initiated flattening and infill of ruts in this area, to try to make more useful as a car park area – cost to be
split between the four groups. José had been instructed but had yet to start.
At the time of the TH meeting, SB was absent and too late had tried to cancel the meeting. The Mayor’s
secretary acted as interpreter. Went through the points and showed photographs of work already
undertaken. All was very well received and the Mayor was surprised at the amount of work done by
volunteers. He suggested entering into a ‘gardening contract’ for Camposol, under the umbrella of the
gardening groups – but one contract would have to cover all groups. If we want TH to pay, then it will have
to be done as a single entity. Need to talk to a solicitor to establish requirements for such a contract.
JM knows ‘A’ gets assistance from Mazarrón and the remainder should request similar.
Currently the TH employs 9 full time gardeners for all of the area (only one licensed to use a chain saw!).
They plan to recruit another 11-12 and if they succeed, then hopefully 2-3 will be allocated to Camposol.
Very positive outcome with verbal commitments.
15. Any Other Business
15.1. Round Table, proposed by TH
Supposed to happen after November – may not now happen. Four groups may not meet because of
political implications.
15.2. Strategy
In view of pre-meeting with Silvana – CRA operations must be reassessed. It had always been felt
infrastructure should be complete prior to any other maintenance. Since each poligono is now
recommended to be set up as Community of Owners the CRA must step back and review what options
are available in view of this fait accompli – to see what objections are raised at meeting on 19th following
which the question of ‘adoption’ will have to be reviewed. If the process is triggered then each poligono
will have to set up ‘community of owners’ individually. JM indicated he would investigate further
JM posed he question of the ‘worth’ of Camposol to Mazarrón – based on spending power of number of
people including allocation from summer visitors, he suggested 50 million euro. He therefore suggested
realising a ‘township’. Thus Camposol would be managing its own destiny in perpetuity. Applying
direct for funds, regionally and nationally, based on head count should realise at least 20 million.
Consider how much work this would have covered over the 20 years since inception, if only half of that
had been invested in Camposol.
A township is defined as a minimum of 927 residents, although some 21 townships in Spain have
residents of less than that.
Income would also come from IBI and business rates.
He suggested a visit to owners, door to door, as well as other appropriate notifications, to promote such
formation, with a petition – a problem could be that not all will work in unison to control the destiny of
Camposol.
In his opinion the infrastructure should be finished before making such investment.
JM has done a lot of research into this – PG queried what support would be available for such initiative. A
report had mooted a proposal on these lines previously but as a starting point for legal advice, €50k had
been quoted but such an amount of money could not be raised.
It was noted that Mazarrón receives an allocation, based on a head count including Camposol, therefore
Camposol should have a subsequent allocation – can we not approach someone to highlight that the
funds are not being distributed properly – and Camposol should have its share? Mazarrón get a quota
from the region and it should be proportioned between ‘boroughs’, including Camposol which does not
appear to happen.
It was suggested we approach someone from ’A’ to explain how they went about ‘adoption’. PG
suggested Linda accordingly be invited to attend a meeting. JM suggested just a couple of
representatives should meet up in view of collapse of previous discussions on Preguntas y Mas GC to
attend along with JM.
15.3. Governance of CRA
PG reported not having heard anything from Silvana on this subject. The pending legal case went back
on appeal – however, this is a resident’s case not CRA, although CRA had contributed in support. Appeal
had been made during the summer and supposed to have been heard in September but no outcome
yet.
Meeting closed 15.48
Date of the next meeting – 11 November 2019, 2pm at the Golf Club