Therefore, it is hardly surprising that Monica Lorente, the leader of the Popular Party, the largest single party in the Orihuela Council, with 12 seats, one short of a majority, should have requested a meeting with Bob Houliston. Indeed a meeting did take place in the Playa Flamenco office of the Town Hall on 28th December, with the pair chatting about general areas of political interest both on the Coast and in the city.

Following the meeting, according to local political commentator Elliot Sampford´s blog spot, Monica Lorente declared: “The coast is being politically isolated. CLARO Councillor Bob Houliston is being ‘humoured’ by the Mayor. Bob is a good person and has the interests of the coast at heart, but is being taken for a ride by the Mayor and his colleagues. Bob is an honourable man: he doesn’t deserve this.”

The ex-mayor´s major concern appears to be that the coast is being “hung out to dry” by being given a cursory 1 percent of the end of year hand outs in December, despite comprising 35 percent of the municipal population and contributing more than half to the Town Hall coffers in taxes and other income. However, many will remember that this paltry sum is not far off the PP allocations to the coast which were annually described by CLARO as insulting and far to low to address any of the serious issues facing the coast and its residents.

High and dry
There is little doubt that Bob is a Councillor in name only, thanks to his fellow coalition Councillors. The majority of his responsibilities have been taken over in the main by his former coalition partner Pedro Mancebo. The latest blow came last week when Chief Coastal Engineer Rosa Garcia left the coastal Town Hall, transferred to the city, without Bob´s prior knowledge.

Some blame has to be laid at the door of the current Mayor Monserrat Guillen who appears to be allowing Bob and CLARO to be isolated from within the Town Hall. Many believe that CLR joined forces with CLARO simply to access their coastal election votes and oust PP from power. There are a number of coastal projects that were promised during the election that are now on hold including schools and the emergency centre.

Bob now faces one of the most difficult decisions of this political career, Monica seems to be tempting Bob to form a new bipartite agreement with the PP and bring down the current governing team and reinstate her as Mayor. This is tempting not just for Bob, but would address wider political issues faced by the municipality. Currently both regionally and nationally, Orihuela is in a political wilderness, with no support from anywhere. The current government team has isolated the municipality from the rest of the region and is effectively sanctioning the isolation of the coast. One thing is obvious as far as the coast is concerned this situation simply cannot be allowed to continue for another three years.