Tala
newsletter June 2015
CEMETERY
Tenders for the new cemetery have now been received
and the contract has been awarded. Work
will start imminently. For Phase 1 of
the project, around a hundred plots will be constructed, together with a
boundary wall, paths and basic car parking.
The work is likely to take around 2 months to complete.
If plots are needed, these should be available from
August. More details will be supplied in
the September newsletter regarding pre-purchasing plots.
Phase 2 of the cemetery project will involve
ashphalting the car park and building a covered area for shade/weather
protection and a cemetery tax of €20 will be levied on each household for 2015
to raise the money to enable us to do this.
Regarding the cemetery tax, I apologise as, despite
the earlier advice given by the District Office, legal opinion is that the tax
is payable by everyone regardless of any personal arrangements or
preferences. As mentioned in a previous
newsletter, due to the costs involved, the council will not take measures to
pursue payment. However, if the tax
remains unpaid, a non-payment penalty will apply each year, and the tax will
have to be settled at the time of any property sale.
SAPA &
MAINS SEWERAGE
You may
remember from the April issue that we were trying to negotiate with SAPA
regarding the payment they required to reimburse them for any outlay or share
of costs relating to Tala as the first part of our exit from the mains sewerage
system. SAPA have refused to budge from
the initial figure quoted of €40,798 and Tala Council has, therefore, made the
first payment to them of €20,000. The
balance will be paid in 12 months time and the Council is left to battle with
the Government to obtain the 80% funding promised.
As a result,
finally, those of you who have been forced to pay sewerage fees to allow
transfer of property will now be
reimbursed. Rather than sit and wait for this
reimbursement, I would suggest that you apply to SAPA directly or via your
legal advisor.
It would
also appear that we have made some progress with the Government who now accept
that septic tanks are acceptable under the EU directive – however it is likely
that an inspection schedule would have to be put in place to check that these
are not leaking or polluting. Such an
inspection [possibly every 5 years] would incur a charge but this would be
nothing compared to the costs which we would all have had to pay for the mains
sewerage system. However, we still need
the Minister of the Interior and the Government to make a decision as to
whether we still have to be included in the main sewerage or whether we are
excluded and I have no timescale for this.
I am hoping
to have a meeting with the Minister of the Interior in the very near future and
will keep you posted regarding developments.
TALA SQUARE
The new toilets behind the old church in the Square
have now been completed. We are also
hopeful that the necessary EU funding will shortly be in place to allow the
work for the pedestrianisation of the square to start in the last quarter of
this year, possibly as early as September.
MULTI-CULTURAL
CENTRE
Provisional
planning permission has been received for the multi-cultural centre. This is proposed to be built on the land at
the far end of the car park [on the road leading out of the village to Vrasidas
Taverna]. We will be applying for EU
funding for the project and anticipate that we will hear whether those funds
are available in 2016.
GARDEN WASTE
The
Government operated site for garden waste recycling [Green Point] has now been opened at
Akoursos, in an old quarry on the left hand side of the road to Akoursos
village. However, this site is only
open on the following days:
Monday 0800-1800
Wednesday 0800-1800
Friday 0800-1800
Saturday 0900-1500
Tuesday,
Thursday and Sunday CLOSED
However,
according to rumour it appears that this site can only take wood cuttings
[branches, trunks] for recycling. We are
trying to obtain further clarification
and additoinal information will be supplied in due course. We understand that there is no charge for
using the facility but that all the Councils and Municipalities may be required
to contribute a [considerable!] sum for this facility.
Options for
garden waste:
1
Branches and tree cuttings - Taken by the
householder to the free site above [to be confirmed]
2
Collection of up to 2 bags of garden waste
[excluding branches and tree cuttings] by the refuse collectors. Note, however, that priority will be given
to household rubbish and garden waste may not always be taken if refuse levels
are higher than usual.
3
Purchase blue
Tala Council bags at the Council office, and advise the office when you have
bags ready for collection. Collections
will be done the week of the first Monday of each month [Monday – Kamares; Tuesday – Stephanie/Lofos ; Wednesday – Melisovonos & Monastery ; Thursday – Village and South of Milt.
Stylianou]. No charge will be made for
collection of these blue bags.
4
Request uplift
from the Council office – a charge will be made depending on the volume of
waste.
5
Take any bags to
the private garden waste centre in Tala – a charge will be made of €1 for the
first bag, and €0.50 for each additional bag.
The site is open Tuesday 0900-1200, and Saturday 0900-1200 and
1400-1600]
6
Arrange for
collection by the private garden waste collectors – the charge will depend on
the volume/vehicle required.
Please also bear in mind that the private garden waste
collector will pick up domestic appliances free of charge. There is a drop off fee for wooden furniture
items, and home pick-up is offered for a supplementary charge.
Council office – 26 652412
Private garden waste collector – Andreas 99 327262
HOUSEHOLD
REFUSE
We are receiving
reports of occasions when the refuse men are omitting to collect from some
households. These omissions are erratic
and there appears to be no pattern to them.
It is, however, important that you advise either the council office, or
email Cathi [toffee@primehome.com] with a note of your name and address, no of
bags omitted and dates of non-collection so that I can use this as ammunition
against the contractor.
AMPHITHEATRE
I am pleased to advise that the new changing rooms and
disabled toilet at the amphitheatre were completed ready for the start of the
new season.
We also have a new tenant at the amphitheatre kiosk –
Andreas Onisiforou.
TALA COUNCIL
COMPUTER SYSTEM
We are just
finalising a form which we will be using alongside the new computer
system. This form will ask for email
addresses and mobile phone numbers and will also be used as a check to ensure
that the information we have on the system regarding your name and address is
correct.
Once the
form is agreed, Cathi will be circulating this and supplies will be available
in the council office.
We are still
waiting for confirmation that we have been accepted onto the JCC link which
will allow payment of rates and Tala water bills online. We will continue to press for this and hope
to have it in place before the end of this year. We are in the hands of JCC for this and
understand we are ‘on the To Do list’.
TALA WATER
METERS
There has been a long outstanding problem of accessing
some water meters in Tala. Those of you
who have problem meters will have received a letter asking you to relocate your
meter to a more accessible position. The
deadline for moving the meter has now expired, and the Council will now proceed
to move those necessary and a charge will be imposed on the water bills of
those affected.
LOCAL
IMMOVABLE PROPERTY TAX payable at Tala Council office
Please note that this tax no longer applies from this
year and will be incorporated into the Government Immovable Property Tax. The rates for the Government tax have not yet
been agreed and it is possible that the 2013 property value will be used as the
basis for this tax. Further information
will be circulated once available.
PAFOS 2017
We have
approached Paphos 2017 with a view to having a number of walls around the
village included in their Community Projects as part of the Pafos 2017
initiative. The walls in question are:
- - The car park at the amphitheatre
- - The wall above the amphitheatre fronting onto
the road
- - The verandah wall at SKE [Welfare Centre]
Would any
artists who would like to be involved in the design and/or co-ordination of
these projects please email Cathi [toffee@primehome.com] with their name, email
and mobile phone no. Also, if anyone,
or any company, is interested in sponsoring these projects either financially
or to offer materials, or discounted rates for materials, could they please
contact Cathi .
Subject to
acceptance, the projects are scheduled for Spring 2016.
MEAL SERVICE
Just to remind you that a hot
meal delivery service is available which will be delivered direct to your
door. This will be ideal not only for
anyone who is housebound, but for those recovering from an operation,
temporarily on their own, unable to
leave the house for any reason, on holiday or wanting to entertain and save
themselves the hassle of cooking – or avoid the heat in the kitchen over the
summer months! If needed, additional
meals can be provided suitable for freezing or keeping in the fridge but in the
initial stages the hot meal delivery will be restricted to Sunday, Wednesday
and Friday. The menu for the week will
be emailed out each week and will be available on www.talanews.blogspot.com.
Working under the auspices of
SKE [Welfare Centre], Marie and Emma will initially be providing a lunch on
Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. This will
consist of a main course and a dessert.
Special dietary requirements can be catered for if needed. The meal on a Sunday will be a traditional
Sunday lunch.
The cost of the lunch will be
€7.50 per person with free delivery to residents of Tala. Anyone outside of the Tala area will be
charged €1 for delivery.
For further information or to
order lunch, please contact Marie and Emma on 97 725903 or email: emmaguy52@hotmail.com. Please bear in mind that you will need to
give 24 hours notice of your order.
WHAT’S ON
June
21 Hollies tribute from the UK – at
the Amphitheatre
July
16 The All New Jersey Boys from
the UK – at the Amphitheatre
18 The
All New Jersey Boys from the UK – at the Amphitheatre – tickets now at kiosk
Sept
11 Fleetwood
Mac tribute from the UK – at the Amphitheatre
13 Fleetwood Mac tribute from the
UK – at the Amphitheatre
20 Papageorgio String Quartet – at
the Amphitheatre
25 Bee
Gees tribute from the UK – at the Amphitheatre
27 Bee Gees tribute from the UK –
at the Amphitheatre
Details of
the Cypriot music and plays will be available shortly and will be circulated.
Tickets for
most events are available at the
Visteria [formerly SoEasy] Kiosk in Tala.
For most shows, tickets can be reserved on www.talanews.blogspot.com. Any events at the Kamares Club must be
booked direct with the Club.
Please also
see www.talanews.blogspot.com
regarding other events in the Paphos and Tala area which may be of interest.
Next issue 20
September
Areti Pieridou
