One year after winning the municipal elections with an absolute majority, the mayor of Marbella, Ángeles Muñoz, evaluates the work which has been done so far and explains that the main objective has been to return order to a devastated Town Hall.
How do you feel after this first year as mayor?
What we have done during this first year is get the town going again. We found a Town Hall which was in absolute chaos in terms of management, projects, processes, all forms of administration. In the past year we have been able to lay the foundations for resolving the most important matters and now you can see that things are progressing, that there is a solution and that plans are being carried out.
Did you expect things to be different? Did you think things could be sorted out more quickly?
I don’t think so. A year ago, if they had told us that by now the Urban Plan would be about to be provisionally approved, that agreement would be reached with the ten unions over personnel problems, that agreements would be reached with Social Security, Hacienda and bank creditors and with the provincial government over financing, that building contracts would already have been awarded for social housing and other projects, the truth is that we would have been very surprised that we could achieve so much in that time. So things are going well, although there is still a great deal to be done.
Have the expectations of those who voted for you been fulfilled?
When people put their trust in you, it is for four years. I would have loved to have resolved all the problems in the first year, but people know how bad things were at the Town Hall when we took over.
Is the economic situation the worst problem?
It is affecting everything. I don’t believe any other Town Hall with a situation like the one we have inherited would be carrying out projects in the way that we are. We have drawn up a savings and viability plan, bearing in mind that if Marbella had paid what it should have done in recent years and had carried out the maintenance and infrastructure works which were necessary, things would be very different now.
When you talk about a chaotic situation, are you only referring to the financial situation?
I’m talking about everything. There was no true inventory, we didn’t know what town planning agreements had been made, the administrative structure is like something from a previous century, because everything is done on paper and by fax with no internal electronic communications. It makes everything a long drawn out process. For example, if we wanted to carry out a building project, we would often find that the site didn’t belong to the council or it had been embargoed.
How long will the Town Hall have to suffer this economic situation?
Until the Urban Plan is in force and we can have more facilities and more land and we are able to carry out what is part of our heritage. At that time, there will be a considerable increase in public investment, and private investment as well
But this is going to happen at a time when the construction industry is suffering.
Marbella will be the first town to come out of the crisis. I have no doubt about that. If Marbella has been able to carry on despite the situation we are in at the moment, with no Urban Plan, in a crisis situation just like the one several years ago, and if we are now turning the tide and getting better results than some other places in Spain, then as soon as we have an Urban Plan which guarantees confidence and security, we will be the first town which begins to take off and we will have the greatest economic activity.
Transparency
Isn’t that forecast a bit too optimistic?
No. It’s clear to see. If, after all we have gone through, Marbella does not have the worst figures in terms of occupancy or anything else, then at the moment when Marbella can progress with a council which promises transparency and with an Urban Plan, I’m certain that it will do so.
What is your relationship like with the Junta de Andalucía?
We have had some ups and downs. The elections affected us, because after its Parliament was dissolved the Junta de Andalucía was unable to confirm anything and that has been the case until very recently. It has meant that no important agreements have been reached. However, I’m sure things will pick up now. Right from the beginning, I told the president, Manuel Chaves, what line we intended to follow during these four years I’m the mayor of Marbella, I don’t represent any political party interest, and I hope to find the same willingness to reach agreement in the other public authorities. I believe we will, because right now we need Marbella to be a question of State and I hope this will be reflected in the budgets and initiatives we carry out.
In this situation of ups and downs, what is the position at the moment?
Things are as they should be, now. The Andalusian administration, our council and the central government must all take an active interest in Marbella
The final stages of the Urban Plan will be a test of the relationship.
The Urban Plan and a lot of the investment which has to be made in Marbella. In the end, there are matters which are the concern of the Andalusian administration, and they will have to sort them out. We pay taxes so they can carry out these investments, and I hope they will put them into effect as soon as possible. That would be proof that the relationship is a good one.
One point of conflict is the compensation which has to be made for the illegal housing developments.
We’re going to reach a middle point between the Junta’s position and that of the council, but one where the owners don’t have to pay compensation. Marbella’s town planning problems shouldn’t have to be paid for by local residents and the purchasers of illegal buildings.
Marbella still hasn’t recovered its image.
It is completely unfair that people talk about Marbella the way they do. Nobody is more aware than I that what has happened in Marbella is tremendously serious. When a council has had to be dissolved and when such awful things have happened, it is very difficult to tell the media to stick up for the town. But the best way to stop the bad press is for Marbella to appear in the media for reasons other than what has been going on here in the past few years, and that is beginning to happen now.
Has the Marbella ‘brand’ been affected badly?
The British ambassador told me that we shouldn’t worry about the Marbella ‘brand name’. It is famous throughout the world and on an international level it is not as affected by the amount of publicity given to the ‘Malaya case’. On an international level, if we draw up an Urban Plan which provides security, if there is no news about demolitions and suchlike, if we can begin an era of different expectations, all this will a bigger help in consolidating the brand name than any campaign we could carry out. 
