By YGTV's Political Editor

I have always felt a connection with the Upper Town's forgotten alleyways. For the first ten years of my life I grew up in the Castle Road area and now, after some years living in the South District and the UK, I have returned to this improvised jigsaw of rooftops and screeching swifts. There really is nothing like it in Gibraltar - take a walk one day through Castle Ramp and down the Road to the Lines; explore the hidden and exotically named Shakery's Passage, Arengo's Palace Lane and Chicardo's Passage and you will witness the old Gibraltar, a Gibraltar of ancient walls and rotting wooden shutters.

Unfortunately, since the demographic shift down to sea level and its anonymous, newly-built estates, the Upper Town has been left a legacy of empty buildings, poor amenities and a crumbling infrastructure.

Take the roads, for example. Castle Road, a bumpy and narrow link between the lower part of town and the Moorish Castle Estate area, is in desperate need of some attention. There are some stretches of Castle Road that do not have a pavement which means that pedestrians (including many schoolchildren and the elderly) have to walk from parked car to parked car and wait for the traffic to clear.

Blocked drains and an out-dated sewer and water distribution system also bring misery to Upper Town residents. Whenever there are heavy rains, communal patios can remain flooded for days and cuts to the salt water supply are common as the authorities struggle to cope with old pipes. The steps of Palace Gully (another wonderfully atmospheric area) must hold the record for the number of times pneumatic drills have had to break open the concrete to access pipes. It is time to provide the Upper Town with the infrastructure its residents deserve and bring an end the short-term solutions that merely patch up problems as and when they occur often causing great inconvenience.   

The Upper Town also suffers serious rubbish problems. Residents of the area, especially at the bottom of Tank Ramp and the top of the steps connecting Lower Castle Road to Castle Ramp, seem content to dump their rubbish at the most convenient spot on the road or pavement, regardless of whether there are plastic bins just 30 meters down the road and ignoring official notices threatening possible fines for such behaviour. The gulls and macaques thrive on this carelessness and on Sundays, when there is no rubbish collection, food, nappies and bottles can be seen strewn across the roads of the Upper Town. Clearly, there is a need here for tougher enforcement.

The area has also become a favoured spot for squatters. The old Police Barracks is frequently raided by Police in an attempt to address the problem and the many empty houses on the Road to the Lines are also popular with the homeless. Squatting is a complex problem and we must recognise that, in the absence of deportation orders (which have become increasingly rare) simply evicting one group of vagrants one day will only raise the further question of where those squatters are to spend their next cold night. The deeper causes behind the squatting life - chronic alcoholism, criminality, mental illness, lack of cheap accommodation, to name a few - are incredibly difficult to tackle and will remain peripheral to the Government's concerns given that the majority of the squatters are foreigners. 

There are signs, however, that things are about to change in this traditional neighbourhood. The Police have set up a small district office for their Town Area Neighbourhood Policing Unit in Lower Castle Road which gives residents better access to crime prevention advice and other support services. Recently they've even added a flashing blue lamp outside which, believe it or not, provides a comforting presence in a badly lit area that can sometimes feel intimidating at night. The introduction of CCTV at the top of Castle Street is also a positive move, providing an added level of protection against anti-social behaviour.

The award of tenders for several old buildings in the area suggests that the Upper Town will soon benefit from investment and regeneration. In fact, in a recent interview for YGTV, the Chief Minister explained that the opening up of investment opportunities in this area would lead to an improvement in its infrastructure. However, it is important to ensure that any subsequent improvements to the infrastructure are for the benefit of all residents and not just limited to the areas surrounding the refurbished blocks of expensive flats that will doubtless hit the market over the coming years.

Works are almost finished on an outdoor escalator to link Engineer Lane with the Upper Town. This will make some areas which cannot be accessed by car easier to reach, especially for those with mobility problems. It might also encourage more people to move into unpopular neighbourhoods leading to urban and social renewal.

There is still some work to do but the signs are there that the Upper Town might finally benefit from Gibraltar's wealth. No one who lives here wants glass towers or four-lane highways - part of what we love about the Upper Town is precisely the fact that it feels slightly worn, that is has character. If it is possible to invest in certain essential improvements while preserving the charm of its tightly packed houses, we will have succeeded in making the Upper Town a place we can be proud to live in.

I hope you've enjoyed what has been a more personal post than usual. Please read my other entries below and feel free to comment on anything that arouses your interest.

Giordano

YGTV Political Editor