The prospect of yet another market in Benidorm has caused uproar with local traders – and they have declared war to stop it going ahead. The proposed location is off the old N332 – opposite the ITV testing station, along the "Golden Mile" where all the Spanish nightclubs are. The 2,500 metre square plot has recently been leveled and the private owner has been granted authorization by the Department of Trade, which is part of the Regional Valencian Government, for the development of a 180 pitch market plus 10 bar/café outlets which would be open fours days a week.
The President of AICO – Association of Independent Traders in Benidorm has vowed to do everything in his power to take legal action to revoke the licence and has the backing of the local Government. Conrado Hernandez, Councillor of Commerce has stated that Benidorm Council do not agree with the proposal either and that it will be a serious attack to local traders. They are backing the Association of Local Traders and will attempt to overturn the authorization, stating that the traffic congestion would cause a danger to road users in the vicinity.
Earlier this year the Department of Transport in Madrid sent a workforce to implement a new road layout in front of the El Cisne rastro, preventing cars heading from the Altea and Alfaz direction to turn into the rastro road by placing bollards down the middle. This has forced many to just drive a little further up then do a U-Turn – which is probably even more dangerous!
Traffic at the weekend certainly is very busy around the rastro and with another potential market opening up just a little further along the road would make the old N332 a real blackspot. I can´t imagine that the owner of El Cisne to too happy about the prospect of some competition so close by either.
It looks like Benidorm Council will now be arguing with the Regional Valencian Government about whether the project will go ahead – watch this space! It looks like neither the Central or Regional Governments take any notice of what the Local Government think – which is bizarre considering that they are aware of the local needs of the community which they serve.