Changing of the Guardia
THE GUARDIA Civil have had to move out of their historic station in Jacarilla and into the local Casa de Cultura after the old building was condemned by the ministry for the interior in September.
Mayor Andrés Moñino told state news agency EFE that the Guardia Civil station is one of the oldest in the area and has hardly had any renovations since it opened in 1916.
“Nowadays it has leaks, damp and even ceilings have collapsed,” he said.
When the building was declared a ruin, it was also announced that it would not be repaired so the town hall wrote to the government’s office in Alicante province, the ministry for the interior and the Guardia Civil offering alternative spaces in the municipality, so that the force could relocate rather than moving away. Sr Moñino said this was to ensure that their services would continue in Bigastro, Benejúzar, the Orihuela rural district of San Bartolomé and Jacarilla itself.
“They came from the ministry to see the spaces we were offering and the Casa de Cultura, which was renovated four or five years ago, was adapted to their needs,” he explained.
The mayor noted that the town hall is in the process of ceding this building to the ministry after the decision was unanimously approved at the full council meeting in November.
The council is also starting another procedure to transfer ownership or make an agreement so that the old Guardia Civil building can be restored, ‘since it is located in the cultural-architectural complex of the municipal gardens, the Marques de Fontalba stately home and the church’.
“Our intention is to restore it to give it use, because if this building remains closed it will end up falling down,” he added.