To deal with the rather incredible situation of only one fully functioning fire engine the fire stations of both Benahavis & Manilva have had to be drafted in to provide essential support. In fact, last Tuesday and Wednesday night, the single functioning fire engine was in a non functioning state. It has since been repaired, but the cover from the neighbouring stations is still needed to ensure public safety.

Estepona Town Hall is looking to put 60 of its staff on fixed term contracts and move them away from permenent employment contracts.

Recently, Councillor for personnel Cristina Rodríguez, said the number of civil servants in the Town Hall ‘is very low’ as they represent only 208 of the current 1,300 employees.

In Estepona, currently, there are 1,300 employees, of which 208 are town hall officers, 319 industrial and 800 workers in other council based companies. The town hall has serious problems in paying suppliers and meeting the payroll.

Unemployment in Estepona has increased year on year by more than 1551 people. The latest figures from the Employment Service of Andalusia are for November 2009. Estepona now has 7264 people officially registered as unemployed.

For those of you who are not aware Google has introduced its excellent Street View into Estepona.

Click here to go to Google Street View in Estepona

Simply drag the the little yellow man that sits atop the scaling bar onto the area you wish to view at street level.

You can now wander around the streets of Estepona in a virtual and three dimensional way. A great way for you to show your relatives, in great detail, where you live.

Estepona Town Hall has launched a new program to encourage local Spanish children to learn English. The course, called ‘Saturdays in English’ will be aimed at children between three and 12 years and will cost 35 Euros per month. The classes will focus on spoken English and be held held every Saturday at the municipal centre for adult education in the Plaza of the Missionaries.

The latest figures from Estate agents indicate that the devaluation of the Pound and the rise in local taxation has resulted in a five fold increase in Brits putting their homes up for sale. Most of these Brits are selling up their second home, no longer finding it a viable option to have a holiday home in Spain.

This is particularly prevalent in Estepona due to the almost trebling of local taxes in the past year. With the system very much skewed against foreign residents with large discounts only being available to local residents. A true case of a Town Hall shooting itself in the foot.

The cycle track being built along the area of Avenida Del Carmen in Estepona has finally got under way again after a four month delay and having been left half built.

Having borrowed enough money to pay the constructors the remaining funds for them to complete the 2.5 million Euro project, painting has commenced in the colour of bright blue.

Initial reaction from local residents is one of aghast, leaving them questioning why Estepona cannot have a cycle track in a similar colour as the cycle tracks in the rest of Europe; that of a darker shade of Green.