#residents — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #residents, aggregated by home.social.
-
[email protected] Figueres is bringing back its shop voucher scheme this autumn, with a budget of 100,000 euros. From 20 October to 25 November, every resident aged 18 or over who is registered on the town's padró can claim two vouchers worth 10 euros each. Each voucher can only be used on a purchase of at least 20 euros, and it must be spent within 15 days of the request.
The campaign again uses the slogan "If you love Figueres, shop in Figueres!". It is run by the council together with the retailers' association Comerç Figueres and the Girona Chamber of Commerce. Shops, bars and restaurants can sign up from 14 to 19 October. The list of possible participants is broad: greengrocers, butchers, fishmongers and cake shops, cafes and restaurants, hairdressers, beauty centres and laundries, gyms and dance schools, and clothing, shoe, perfume and household goods stores. Residents can download their vouchers online or pick them up at the Tourist Office in plaça de l'Escorxador. As before, the dates deliberately avoid the Christmas rush so the extra spending lands in a quieter part of the year.
The last edition gives the council good reason to repeat it. Across two rounds, one in autumn and one from February to March, residents made 13,228 purchases and spent 676,785 euros in local businesses. The November round brought in 346,603 euros from 6,352 purchases, and the February round brought in 330,182 euros from 6,876 purchases. The average receipt was 54.56 euros in autumn and 48.01 euros in winter, far above the 20 euro minimum. In other words, a modest public subsidy appears to have unlocked much larger private spending. Business interest also grew, from 110 participating establishments in the first round to nearly 140 in the second.
For people in Empuriabrava and Castelló d'Empúries, the benefit is indirect. Only residents registered in Figueres qualify, even though many people from the surrounding area do their shopping in the regional capital. The scheme is part of a wider effort by Figueres to strengthen its town centre, which also includes plans for a 50-metre minimum distance between certain city centre shops.
Two questions are still open. Will Figueres add another February round as it did last year? And should neighbouring towns such as Castelló d'Empúries try similar vouchers for their own businesses, or do such schemes mostly shift spending from one place to another?
-
Figueres shop vouchers return with 100,000 euro budget
-
Figueres shop vouchers return with 100,000 euro budget
-
Figueres shop vouchers return with 100,000 euro budget
-
Local elections 2027: how foreign residents can register
-
[email protected] Foreign residents in Spain who want a say in the municipal elections of 23 May 2027 need to act soon. A notice from Roses council sets out the rules, which apply nationwide, from Empuriabrava and Castelló d'Empúries to the rest of the Alt Empordà. There are two separate tracks: one for EU citizens, and one for nationals of countries that have reciprocal voting agreements with Spain.
EU citizens must formally declare that they want to vote in Spain. There are three ways to do this. They can declare online through the National Statistics Institute (INE) with the Cl@ve digital ID. They can go to the town hall with form CERE.DFA-2 and their NIE card, national ID or passport. Or they can reply by post. In the last days of September 2026, the Electoral Census Office (OCE) is sending pre-filled letters to EU residents it has not contacted before and who have not yet declared. Each letter includes a CTT code for finishing the process online without Cl@ve, or it can be returned free of charge. The declaration stays valid as long as you live in Spain. Both padró registration and the declaration must be completed by 30 December 2026.
Thirteen non-EU countries have agreements with Spain: Bolivia, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Korea, Ecuador, Iceland, Norway, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, the United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago. Applicants must be over 18, be on the padró and hold a residence authorisation. They must also meet a minimum period of legal residence. For Norwegians it is three years on election day, for Britons three years at the time of applying, and for everyone else five years. Residence must be proven with a certificate from the Foreigners' Office or the police. OCE letters with CTT codes go out in late November 2026, based on padró data as of 30 August. Applications are accepted online, by post or at the town hall with form CERE.N-2, but only from 1 December 2026 to 15 January 2027. Late applications are rejected.
The stakes are local but real. The council elected in May will shape issues such as Castelló's participatory budget and its position on the regional tourist flat decree. The split system also carries a trap. British residents who have lived here for years may assume the EU rules still cover them and miss a January window that works entirely differently.
Both routes depend on correct padró registration, so now is a good time to check your address details. Will the OCE letters arrive on time, and will councils like Castelló d'Empúries actively encourage foreign residents to sign up? If you are eligible, have you already registered?
-
Local elections 2027: how foreign residents can register
-
Local elections 2027: how foreign residents can register
-
[email protected] Patients in the Alt Empordà who need close monitoring no longer automatically have to make the trip to Girona. Since 14 September, the Hospital de Figueres has been running a new eight-bed Semi-Critical Care Unit inside its Emergency Department, operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The unit replaces the hospital's former Monitoring Unit (UMO). The space was adapted and fitted with advanced technology, staffing was increased, and the assigned health workers received extra training in semi-intensive care. It is also linked in real time to the ICU at Trueta - Santa Caterina and the Trueta's Cardiovascular Critical Care Unit in Girona. Through a new platform called Critic.CAT, specialists there support colleagues in Figueres. The platform shares information between the reference hospital, the county hospitals and SEM, Catalonia's emergency medical service.
Figueres is the second hospital in the Girona Health Region to adopt this model, after Palamós in June. Olot is due to follow in the coming weeks.
The first numbers are encouraging. According to regional manager Jaume Heredia, five patients in the first two weeks would otherwise have had to be transferred to Girona. He says patients in county hospitals now receive care similar to that in the Trueta ICU. Teresa Cufí from Navata, whose father has heart problems and was among the first patients admitted, sees a simple benefit: more comfort and no journeys to Girona.
The Catalan Department of Health expects the model to add structural beds and reduce the number of critical patients sent outside the Girona region, currently around 60 a year. Fundació Salut Empordà, which runs the hospital, says the model avoids duplication and uses resources more efficiently.
For older residents and people with heart conditions in Empuriabrava, Castelló d'Empúries and the rest of the county, this could make a real difference. But two weeks is a short time to judge. Will the extra staffing last, how will eight beds cope with the summer population surge, and can remote specialist support really replace an on-site ICU when a patient's condition becomes critical?
-
Figueres hospital opens eight-bed semi-critical care unit
-
Figueres hospital opens eight-bed semi-critical care unit
-
Figueres hospital opens eight-bed semi-critical care unit
-
Puig de les Basses prison plans unit for young inmates
-
[email protected] The new director of Puig de les Basses prison near Figueres, appointed in mid-June, wants to create a separate unit for young inmates and bring a gender perspective to how the centre runs. About three months into the job, she describes feeling enthusiasm but also "a certain vertigo" about the responsibility. Her first priority is to keep a well-functioning prison running smoothly. Beyond that, she wants to "open new horizons."
The prison holds about 1,100 people. It opened with just over 700 inmates, peaked at 1,011, and regularly approaches 1,000 today. On 23 September it housed 879. Overcrowding and suicide prevention are challenges across the whole system. The basic Catalan suicide prevention protocol has not changed, but the number of specific measures has grown, including director's orders that add further preventive steps.
The main new project is the youth unit. By law, inmates aged 18 to 20 must be kept apart from the general population, and the prison applies this rule up to age 24. There are currently 108 inmates in that age group. The unit planned for them has room for about 60 and is now used by another group. The director argues that young people need different timing, more specific goals, an educational plan and "more tact," which is hard to provide when they are mixed with older inmates. The gap between 108 young inmates and 60 places is one of the clear open questions.
Women are a minority in the prison and also need specialised attention. One example shows the practical side. Her predecessor allowed female inmates to work in the staff cafeteria, but the changing rooms were never designed for women. A temporary fix is in place, and the director wants the facilities adapted so women can take any job in the prison.
Puig de les Basses is also the only prison with a Compensatory Intervention Unit (UIC) for vulnerable men. It launched as a pilot at the end of 2024, alongside a women's version at Brians 1. The Catalan prison authority is now evaluating it. The director has no data yet, but she reports that some inmates who were constantly involved in incidents have become stable, with clear improvements in behaviour and emotional wellbeing. She hopes the model will be extended to other prisons.
Other questions remain unresolved. On rising assaults against prison officers, she stresses prevention: making sure information reaches staff, knowing who is in each module, anticipating who may turn violent and enforcing the rules. On the cyberattack that hit the prison, she says the case is with the police and courts. Her message to staff, amid pressure from unions, is that the attack was detected early and everyone can remain calm for now.
Is targeted support for young, female and vulnerable inmates the right response to crowded prisons, or does it risk stretching already strained staff and space even further?
-
Puig de les Basses prison plans unit for young inmates
-
Puig de les Basses prison plans unit for young inmates
-
[email protected] Figueres switches to a new waste collection service on 5 October, and the most visible change will be on the streets: 1,043 containers across the capital of the Alt Empordà are being replaced. But the new contract goes further than fresh bins. For the first time, the town will collect the organic fraction separately, meaning food scraps and other biodegradable kitchen waste, along with used vegetable cooking oil.
Households are already being prepared. The council has started handing out 20,000 aerated caddies for kitchen food waste, together with compostable bags that go straight into the organic bin instead of being sorted as plastic. Since Figueres has never had separate organic collection before, many residents will have to learn a new daily routine and keep kitchen scraps apart from general rubbish.
The equipment is being renewed as well. All machinery will be new, and around twenty vehicles will enter service, which the council describes as faster and more efficient than the old fleet. Collection is being extended, a pre-collection stage ("prerecollida") is being added, and container cleaning will be stepped up, a response to one of the most common complaints about street bins.
Businesses are joining the new model in stages. Shops have had door-to-door collection since July, with waste picked up directly from each business rather than left in shared containers. In November, industrial collection will start on the "polígons", the industrial estates on the edge of town. That matters well beyond Figueres itself: many people from Empuriabrava and Castelló d'Empúries work, shop or run businesses in the county capital, and anyone with premises there should expect changes in the coming months.
To reassure residents, the municipal government presented the service on the Rambla and promised it will not hit taxpayers' pockets, because the waste fee will be frozen for 2027. The overhaul is part of a busy autumn of municipal projects, alongside the new green zone car park in Poble Nou and upcoming street works on carrer Balmes.
The real test comes in the first weeks after 5 October: how quickly households adopt organic sorting, and how smoothly the new containers and vehicles perform. An open question is whether the fee freeze will survive beyond 2027 once the full costs of the new service become clear. Would separate organic collection change your habits, and do you trust the promise of stable fees?
-
Figueres waste service: 1,043 bins replaced from 5 October
-
Figueres waste service: 1,043 bins replaced from 5 October
-
Figueres waste service: 1,043 bins replaced from 5 October
-
[email protected] Figueres has opened a new neighbourhood car park in Poble Nou, adding 25 spaces on the Via Emporitana site, opposite the Spar supermarket on the corner with Tallaferro. Rather than building something new, the council converted the existing Via Emporitana car park to fit a new parking regime.
That regime arrives on Thursday 1 October, when the whole of Poble Nou switches to a green zone ("area verda"). Unlike the blue zone ("zona blava") familiar from town centres, the green zone gives residents priority. A two-week trial ran from 15 to 30 September to test the system, inform the public and let drivers adjust. From 1 October, fees apply to residents and visitors alike.
Priority does not mean exclusion. Non-residents can still park in the new spaces at blue zone prices. The first 15 minutes are free, after which parking costs €1.20 per hour. Charges only apply during the day. From Monday to Saturday, parking is free between 9pm and 9am, and it is free all day on Sundays and public holidays. A quick supermarket run or an evening visit can therefore cost nothing.
The council has not yet published what residents themselves will pay for permits, which leaves one of the most relevant questions open just as charging begins.
Three groups feel the change most. Poble Nou residents should find it easier to park near home as regulation spreads across town. People driving in to shop, work or visit family can still park, but will now pay during charging hours. Visitors from the wider Alt Empordà, including drivers from Empuriabrava and Castelló d'Empúries, benefit most from the free 15 minutes and the free nights, Sundays and holidays.
The project is small, but the direction is clear. Figueres is moving towards regulated zones that favour residents while still letting outsiders in for a price. The free short stay looks designed to keep local shops like the neighbouring supermarket accessible, balancing residents' need for spaces against businesses that depend on passing trade. The measure also fits a wider pattern of changes to traffic in the town, alongside number plate cameras at the town entrances, a shuttle bus to the castle and upcoming works on carrer Balmes in Els Pins.
Several questions remain open. Was a two-week trial long enough to prepare drivers, and how will residents react once they actually start paying? If demand for the 25 spaces proves strong, similar conversions could follow in other neighbourhoods. Is resident-priority parking a fair way to share scarce street space, or does it simply push the problem, and the cost, onto everyone else?
-
Figueres opens 25-space green zone car park in Poble Nou
-
Figueres opens 25-space green zone car park in Poble Nou
-
Figueres opens 25-space green zone car park in Poble Nou
-
[email protected] Work on the far end of carrer Balmes in Figueres is due to start on 26 October, according to the local weekly Hora Nova. The site, known locally as Els Pins (Catalan for "The Pines"), is an uneven patch of ground full of bumps and potholes. It is set to be fully urbanised and turned into a passage, or "passatge", within roughly two months. If the schedule holds, the works will run through November and December and finish around the end of the year.
This is a street improvement scheme, not a building development. In Catalan and Spanish towns, "urbanising" an area means giving it the basic features of a finished street instead of leaving it as open or unfinished ground. Much is still unclear. There is no public information yet on what the works will include, what they will cost, who will carry them out, or how access, diversions, parking and working hours will be handled. Residents near the end of carrer Balmes should expect the usual disruption of street works and watch for notices from the city before the start date.
The finished passage will be named after Josep M. Bernils i Mach, a former chronicler of the city. In many Catalan towns the "cronista" records local history, events and daily life. The role is often honorary and reflects long commitment to the town. Naming new streets, squares and passages after such figures is a common way for Catalan councils to keep local memory in everyday use.
The project reaches beyond the immediate neighbours. Figueres is the capital of the Alt Empordà comarca, and many people from Empuriabrava, Castelló d'Empúries and elsewhere go there for shopping, services and appointments. It is also one of several recent changes to public space in the city. The old prison gardens are set to open to the public on 3 October.
Els Pins is a small project, but small projects often matter most to the people who live next to them. A potholed strip at the end of a street is a problem residents see every day, and fixing it suggests the city is paying attention to neglected corners as well as larger schemes. Whether the two-month timetable holds is another question, since street works in the region do not always finish on time. Should towns give more priority to fixing small everyday eyesores like this, and is naming a passage after a local chronicler a meaningful way to honour civic memory?
-
Figueres: Els Pins works on carrer Balmes start 26 October
-
Figueres: Els Pins works on carrer Balmes start 26 October
-
Figueres: Els Pins works on carrer Balmes start 26 October
-
#Ukrainian forces delivered ~4 tons of food to #residents of occupied front-line town of #Oleshky in Kherson Oblast, distributing supplies to 100 locations across the city with the help of drones
Residents of Oleshky have reported that the town is running critically low on food due to a lack of supplies, while only a small number of residents have managed to evacuate.
-
#Ukrainian forces delivered ~4 tons of food to #residents of occupied front-line town of #Oleshky in Kherson Oblast, distributing supplies to 100 locations across the city with the help of drones
Residents of Oleshky have reported that the town is running critically low on food due to a lack of supplies, while only a small number of residents have managed to evacuate.
-
#Ukrainian forces delivered ~4 tons of food to #residents of occupied front-line town of #Oleshky in Kherson Oblast, distributing supplies to 100 locations across the city with the help of drones
Residents of Oleshky have reported that the town is running critically low on food due to a lack of supplies, while only a small number of residents have managed to evacuate.
-
#Ukrainian forces delivered ~4 tons of food to #residents of occupied front-line town of #Oleshky in Kherson Oblast, distributing supplies to 100 locations across the city with the help of drones
Residents of Oleshky have reported that the town is running critically low on food due to a lack of supplies, while only a small number of residents have managed to evacuate.
-
#Ukrainian forces delivered ~4 tons of food to #residents of occupied front-line town of #Oleshky in Kherson Oblast, distributing supplies to 100 locations across the city with the help of drones
Residents of Oleshky have reported that the town is running critically low on food due to a lack of supplies, while only a small number of residents have managed to evacuate.
-
Monday, September 28, 2026
Under FPVs & glide bombs, life, children clings on in Zaporizhzhia . . . . . Ukrainian military delivers 4 tons of food to occupied Oleshky by drones . . . . . Over 10,000 Russian troops killed or wounded this week as Ukrainian military advances in Lyman sector . . . . . and morehttps://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/09/monday-september-28-2026/
-
Monday, September 28, 2026
Under FPVs & glide bombs, life, children clings on in Zaporizhzhia . . . . . Ukrainian military delivers 4 tons of food to occupied Oleshky by drones . . . . . Over 10,000 Russian troops killed or wounded this week as Ukrainian military advances in Lyman sector . . . . . and morehttps://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/09/monday-september-28-2026/
-
Monday, September 28, 2026
Under FPVs & glide bombs, life, children clings on in Zaporizhzhia . . . . . Ukrainian military delivers 4 tons of food to occupied Oleshky by drones . . . . . Over 10,000 Russian troops killed or wounded this week as Ukrainian military advances in Lyman sector . . . . . and morehttps://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/09/monday-september-28-2026/
-
Monday, September 28, 2026
Under FPVs & glide bombs, life, children clings on in Zaporizhzhia . . . . . Ukrainian military delivers 4 tons of food to occupied Oleshky by drones . . . . . Over 10,000 Russian troops killed or wounded this week as Ukrainian military advances in Lyman sector . . . . . and morehttps://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/09/monday-september-28-2026/
-
Monday, September 28, 2026
Under FPVs & glide bombs, life, children clings on in Zaporizhzhia . . . . . Ukrainian military delivers 4 tons of food to occupied Oleshky by drones . . . . . Over 10,000 Russian troops killed or wounded this week as Ukrainian military advances in Lyman sector . . . . . and morehttps://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/09/monday-september-28-2026/
-
Ukraine uses drones to make airdrops of aid to occupied city of Oleshky on brink of starvation
Ukrainian officials say they dropped four tonnes of food at 100 different locations in the Russian-occupied community of…
#Ukraine #UA #Europe #Europa #EU #News #full-scaleinvasion #HumanitarianAid #khersonregionalmilitaryadministration #Oleshky #residents #Russia #Russianforces #Russiantroops #Ukrainianmilitary #Ukrainianofficials
https://www.europesays.com/ukraine/48619/ -
https://www.europesays.com/conflicts/11479/ Ukraine uses drones to make airdrops of aid to occupied city of Oleshky on brink of starvation #FullScaleInvasion #HumanitarianAid #KhersonRegionalMilitaryAdministration #Oleshky #residents #Russia #Russian #RussianForces #RussianMilitary #RussianTroops #UkrainianMilitary #UkrainianOfficials