A visit to Arboleas by Almería’s housing minister last week to distribute cash grants for the renovation of ancient cortijos coincided with a ceremonial laying of the ‘first stone’ for a new municipal park.
Both projects were overseen by the Junta’s delegate for town-planning, Luis Caparros, and the newly appointed mayor of Arboleas, Angel Garcia.
Fifty-two local families received permission to renovate homes where 50 per cent of the cost is paid for by the Junta, up to a maximum of 9,000 euros, with work having to be completed within the year.
Most properties are old farmhouses or dilapidated ‘cortijos’, mostly owned by retired locals who have lived all their lives in the area.
The initiative pledges to provide a financial leg-up over an agreed four-year period from 2008 to 2012 throughout the province. However, all applicants will have to be means-tested first.
Houses will be ‘checked’ first by officials and owners will have to find their own builders - although architects and technicians are available at no cost.
The regional government is also aiming to create employment for local trades people as plumbers, carpenters, roofers and other necessary skilled workers.
A British expat, Nora Insley, who has lived in the area for 10 years, was one of the “lucky” grant recipients. She purchased her house in Arboleas seven years ago, when it was “a shell”.
She said everyone at the town hall had been very helpful. She said: “Although I have managed to renovate some of the house inside, to repair the roof will cost a fortune and I can’t afford that.
“Now the Junta is going to pay half towards it. I felt very lucky to have been accepted for the grant. I think the council wants to ensure that old houses and methods of building are not lost and that Arboleas does not lose its ancestral and rural buildings.”
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