An ordinary plenary of Orihuela City Council was held yesterday for the first time in the Costa town hall at Playa Flamenca and drew a coastal protest of roughly one hundred people. Demonstrators, who complained of abandonment, inequality and poor municipal respect, collected more than one hundred and fifty signatures against a recent rise in the rubbish tax. The Party for the Independence of Orihuela Costa (PIOC) is seeking five hundred signatures to send to the European Commission by the end of December and says more than one thousand residents have formally requested a reduction without receiving a reply. PIOC volunteers will be collecting signatures at the town hall from nine to eleven each morning for the next month and will advise on registration to vote.

The day also saw attempts to build local alliances: FOCA and Unidos por la Costa met with PIOC to position the party ahead of the 2027 municipal elections. PIOC highlighted disparities in investment between Orihuela city and the coast and recalled its past results — one thousand three hundred and eighty-two votes, about one hundred short of earning a councillor. Residents and groups reiterated long-standing grievances: the smell from the sewage works, the need for a pedestrian crossing over the AP‑7, issues at the Ramón de Campoamor civic centre, school number twenty and the Aguamarina health centre expansion, and poor waste collection and park maintenance. The regional ombudsman has also criticised the council for failings in transparency and access to public information.

Several motions passed at the plenary. A PSOE proposal on combating gender violence was approved by all groups except Vox and calls for stronger equality education, full local application of the State Pact measures and closer work with victim support associations. A Cambiemos motion on a transport and cycling network gained broad support, while the administration said a new public transport service will be tendered at one million euros per year for ten years. The council has also installed more than thirty new benches along the promenade and purchased a new horizontal road‑marking machine at a cost of twelve thousand, eight hundred and sixty‑one euros to improve maintenance work.