Q. Why did we create our ‘Palmeras de Altea’ Residents Association in 2011?
A. Because many of us who are residents of The Galera had become increasingly unhappy about the manner in which the then existing and now defunct Galpalm association was being run. We intended Palmeras de Altea to act as a catchment for all those old members of Galpalm who had lapsed their membership in disgust. We hoped to have them join our new association so as to keep them involved in the wellbeing of the Galera. See correspondence archived on this site under ‘Reasons for starting Palmeras de Altea’
Q. Is Palmeras de Altea registered with the authorities in Communidad Valenciana, in Alicante and, locally, in Altea?
A. Yes, of course
Q. Does Palmeras de Altea have a bank account and a NIF/NIE number?
A. Yes, of course – as stated in our letterhead and application form for membership.
Q. Have many residents of The Galera joined our association?
A. Yes and more have continued to join over the last few years because everyone can see from today’s state of the Galera’s roads, verges and signs, how much we have already done and that we are an active and ‘hands-on’ committee. People have come to appreciate and respect the major improvements which have taken place under our aegis. It is our commitment that our best efforts to keep The Galera beautiful will be unceasing.
Q. Do I have to be resident in The Galera to become a member?
A. Not necessarily but our association is intended primarily for those with homes or building plots on The Galera.
Q. What is the annual membership fee?
A. It is still currently set, after 9 years, at €150 per annum per household
Q. Do you see this amount foreseeably rising?
A. We do not intend to increase this fee so long as we have adequate income to meet our intended endeavours on behalf of us all living on The Galera. Our present financial position is robust despite our having acquired various cleaning and other machinery and the urbanisation’s owned vehicle.
Q. Will Board members take a remuneration from Association funds?
A. No. Not a centimo. All our Board members are unpaid volunteers.
Q. Will Board members claim any expenses?
A. Board members may claim remuneration of their own monies laid out in cash or in kind in the execution of their duties only. Any such money will be clearly shown, analysed and available at AGMs for perusal by members.
Q. Will the association produce annual financial accounts for distribution to members?
A. Yes, updated and current each financial year and these will be available to members at every AGM or, at other times and upon request, from info@palmerasdealtea.es.
Q. Will there be any external party involved and receiving remuneration such as happened, for very dubious reasons, in the old predecessor association Galpalm who used to use a certain Servimaltea and pay them unverifiable monies?
A. No – We will take care of our own administration so as to save, we suspect, around €3000 each year, which monies can be spent on more important and productive things.
Q. Has La Galera de Las Palmeras been ‘adopted’ by the Town Hall (Ayuntamiento) as a municipal urbanisation?
A. Yes – in theory – but the Town Hall is always short of money and our Board fights with them all the time to promote the Galera’s interests. Remember we are in Spain and dealing with the notorious Spanish bureaucracy!! Sometimes we feel as if it is like wrestling with a blancmange but we never become so discouraged that we don’t keep trying to get to force the ayuntamiento courteously and politely into a corner and gently force their hand.
Q. Does the Town Hall currently maintain and clean our streets?
A. Yes – in theory – there is supposed to be the visit once per month of a street cleaning machine but we have only witnessed a few visits. Our association has done huge works ourselves in tidying our previously neglected streets and on several instances we have brought town councillors to Galera sites and have them leave red-faced.
Q. Does our sewerage system on The Galera connect with the main municipal sewer system?
A. Some homes DO connect to the main municipal sewer running along the N332 road but many others still feed into partly broken down cesspits. We do not currently meet EU legislation for out-of-town urbanisations. Our letters to Brussels have met with a ‘talk to your Town Hall’ response. The Town Hall says ‘talk to Brussels’. We keep working on this. Again, remember this is Spain and beautiful little Altea is a long way from Brussels!!
Q. Is The Galera already fully developed?
A. No – there are a number of unsold plots of land still owned by the original developer of The Galera and others. Random construction takes place from time to time which muddies our streets and is sometimes a general and unavoidable nuisance. Our association volunteers are frequently active keeping our streets as clean as possible and we force construction bosses to take their building spoil and debris away with them.
Q. How secure are we on The Galera?
A. Much better than before we formed Palmeras de Altea in 2011. There is now a camera linked to the local police and this monitors vehicular traffic entering into and exiting our Puput access from the N332 main road. We keep onto the Town Hall to secure a viable fire escape via Calle La Judia, the bottom of which is currently blocked by an illegally constructed house. The planners have promised to deal with this. Another outlet from above the motorway at La Guatla was completely blocked by a small mountain of illegally dumped waste materials until it was cleared, cleaned and reopened by our own volunteers with a great deal of hard work. Nothing had been done about that for years and years.
Q. Is Palmeras de Altea involved with the Neighbourhood Watch organisation?
A. Yes, we have revitalized our contacts with the co-ordinators of other urbanisations. Important alert messages get distributed to all residents with known e-mail addresses. Of course, people are free to give notice if they do not wish to receive these kinds of e-mails and they will consequently be removed from our mailing list but this would be like shooting themselves in the foot. Others are encouraged to submit their e-mail address to us in order to be included in the distribution system. Joining the mailing list brings you only adantages and is in the general interests of themselves and to the others in our Galera community.
Q. Are there any safety measures at the Galera which are not widely known?
A. Yes – many Palmeras de Altea members have an arrangement whereby neighbours keep a watch on the homes of those absent for a while in case of anything apparently odd. All members are encouraged to make acquaintance with their neighbours in this respect.
Q. How do I know that the property tax which I pay to the Town Hall is correct?
A. Your tax should be based on the size of your plot of land and the size of the house built on it. You may lodge an appeal if you consider that you are paying more than you should be. Your bank is the best first contact for advice on this.
Q. Should I be entitled to a post box (Buzon) at the foot of The Galera?
A. Buzons are available to paid up members only. Those people who still do not want to pay for membership – the cost of two good dinners for two – should apply to the Altea Post Office for an ‘Apartado Correos’. That doesn’t come free anyway.
Q. Should I have to pay for such a buzon post box?
A. Provision of such Buzon postbox is included in the all-in membership fee.
Q. How do we become members of Palmeras de Altea – and if you’re currently not members, you really should be!
A. There is a membership form which can be downloaded from this site. Please fill this out and –
- email it to info@palmerasdealtea.es or
- send it by mail to the address on our letterhead or
- place it in the white designated association mailbox in the postbox area at the entrance to the Galera.
Q. How do I pay my annual dues?
- Preferably by bank transfer please – see details at the bottom of the membership form
- or in cash or by cheque in the hands of one of the Board members. A note of receipt will be issued.
Q. How often will there be a meeting of members?
A. We will call an Annual General Meeting each year on the last Saturday in March. Extraordinary General Meetings will convene if and when necessary at the written request of at least 10% of the current membership.
Q. How much notice will be given of forthcoming AGMs or EGMs?
A. We will seek to abide by a lead time for EGMs between advice and meeting of at least 6 weeks. AGMs held as set out above with renotification also sent to members.
Q. Why is there still, from time to time, illegally dumped garden and residual builders’ spoil on The Galera?
A. Some garden contractors and builders can behave in an infuriatingly antisocial manner. We keep our eyes open and so should members. Please take their names and phone numbers and let us know. We will follow up robustly. Our streets and verges are now so much cleaner than they used to be under the lazy and finally moribund old Galpalm association. Our volunteers continue to work very hard to maintain the amenity for yourselves and for all of us who enjoy the Galera.
Q. Our roads have been damaged in several places by heavy builders’ trucks – who is going to effect repairs?
A. The property owners responsible for such damage are, in many cases, known and your Board has, on several occasions, sought to bring those home owners responsible to account. Nevertheless, our association volunteers undertake minor road surface maintenance on an ongoing basis, repairing the damage caused by others.
Q. The main Puput road below the motorway bridge and above it as far as Calle El Capsot was repaired very badly after the installation of sewerage pipes. Who is going to remedy this?
A. Altea’s water company, Aigues d’Altea, working on behalf of the Town Hall was responsible for this poor reinstatement. This is an ongoing fight with the Town Hall to come revisit and they have reluctantly done so on two occasions and made good improvements under our watchful eye. We are still trying to get the ayuntamiento to return and improve further.
Q. How does Palmeras de Altea communicate with it’s members?
A. Our main source of info dissemination will be via our website palmerasdealtea.es and by the very active and frequent distribution of e-mails to the individual members from info@palmerasdealtea.
Q. In which languages will Palmeras de Altea distribute its communications?
A. At the Galera the majority of property owners of different nationalities are represented by five languages – ES, UK, FR, DE, NL and sometimes in RU. It will be our aim to contact members in their own language as advised on their original membership form but the main “Lingua Franca” of this site will be English of which most people have at least a rudimentary grasp. Formal legal matters will be published in Spanish and English. Most email circulars will be multilingual.
Q. Is Palmeras de Altea also involved in the cleaning of the ‘basura’ rubbish area at the bottom of the hill?
A. Yes, very much so – and we have organised regular ‘basura clearance’ by external contractors who come frequently for disposal of accumulated rubbish and keep the area as tidy as possible at an average annual cost of little more than €1000 in comparison to the eye-watering €9000 paid out in the days of the previous ‘Galpalm’. We, Palmeras de Altea, have placed many clear and unambiguous guidance signs at the area showing what materials should be deposited where. Please help us all by being disciplined and environmentally and socially friendly when dumping your waste in the variously designated bins. You may also find general guidance rules in five languages on this website under Residents Information > Disposal of Waste – General Rules.
Q. What is a ‘Padron’?
A. You should enrol yourselves in the ‘Padron’ at the Town Hall. There is no disadvantage in any way but only advantage to Altea in general. Please refer for further information to the ‘Padrones’ section under the top menu heading of ‘Residents’ Information’ on this website. See ‘Padrones’ on this website under ‘Residents Information’.
Q. Any other question not answered or sufficiently clarified above?
A. Ask us !!