Benidorm Town Hall has approved €48,215 for preventive propping (apuntalamiento) and exploratory trial pits (catas) at CEIP Aitana primary school, TodoAlicante reports. The propping affects the music room and the adjoining speech and language support room (Audición y Lenguaje), both on the ground floor (planta baja). The town hall has not said when the work will start or who will carry it out.
School management reported cracks in one part of the building. Municipal technicians inspected it, decided to prop two rooms and are keeping the cracks under observation. Education councillor Maite Moreno said the speech and language service has been moved to another free room in the school, while music is being taught in ordinary classrooms, so the school day has not been disrupted. The technicians are assessing whether further preventive measures are needed on the first floor (primera planta).
The opposition Socialist group (PSOE) has demanded explanations from the regional education department (Conselleria de Educación) and from the town hall's education department (Concejalía de Educación). Group deputy spokesperson Sergi Castillo said their concern grew after they learned of a resolution. According to him, a resolution of 13 October from the regional directorate-general for educational infrastructure (Dirección General de Infraestructuras Educativas; the year is not given in the sources) requires the town hall to provide a technical certificate on the building's safety and its fitness for teaching. He says it also allows for pupils to be moved temporarily. Castillo claims that, on the official documentation available to his group, there is still no certificate confirming the building meets safety requirements. He called for the school community to be informed and asked why the measures requested by the regional government (Generalitat) were not taken sooner. The sources do not say whether such a certificate exists, and the documents Castillo cites have not been published.
Castillo also cited a report dated 25 October 2024 by the technical construction unit (Unidad Técnica de Construcciones) of the regional infrastructure office (Servicio Territorial de Infraestructuras). In PSOE's reading, it says some of the cracks had been filled and painted over before 2022. He says the same report questioned the preliminary project (anteproyecto) under the regional Plan Edificant school-building programme, after which the regional department asked the town hall for a new costed estimate (memoria valorada) and for crack monitors (testigos) to track how the cracks develop. Castillo asks why the estimate was not prepared as requested. He claims work on the Serra d'Aitana project has not resumed since May 2023, and argues that the 2022 repair made defects harder to detect.
PSOE describes its requests as a step before a possible demand for political responsibility (responsabilidades políticas). Castillo linked the situation to other delayed school projects in Benidorm: a new building for CEIP Vasco Núñez de Balboa, and work at CEIP Ausiàs March and at the secondary school IES Pere Maria Orts.
The town hall is updating the estimate (memoria) for the CEIP Aitana renovation project in order to apply for funding under Plan Edificant. It is reviewing the school's needs and updating the prices of the planned works. Moreno said the project already included strengthening the structure and that the town hall intends to speed up the administrative procedures. She rejected claims that the town hall tried to hide damage. She accused PSOE of taking technical reports out of context and of circulating an alarming message to the press instead of asking the town hall, the technicians or school management for information. Moreno also said the Serra d'Aitana renovation was part of a package of school improvements that the previous town hall government of PSOE and Compromís cancelled a few days before leaving office after the 2023 elections.