The Villae Naevae Association was born out of the concerns of a group of people worried about the future of Villa Nueva del Rio y Minas and its region. It is a non-profit organisation and its aims are the following:
1.To promote knowledge and disseminate the tourist potential of the area.
2.To promote documentary historical and heritage research in the area.
3.To disseminate cultural aspects related to tourism.
4.To promote economic diversification compatible with the sustainability of development and consolidation of the population.
5.To disseminate the socio-economic, environmental and integration benefits of tourism development.
6.To promote sporting activities with the natural environment.
In order to achieve its aims, the Association will organise the following activities:
1.Those related to the conservation, preservation and enrichment of historical archives.
2.Those aimed at promoting research and socio-economic study in relation to the development of tourism.
3.The publication and edition through different means of dissemination of the contents with the aims of the association.
4.Those aimed at promoting tourism, culture and activities in the cultural environment.
Analysis:
An analysis of the general situation in the region of Vega Alta de Sevilla reveals the following aspects and deficiencies:
1.Systematic population loss.
2.Low birth rate
3.Lack of business fabric.
4.Lack of productive associative initiatives.
5.Lack of infrastructure.
6.Widespread mechanised rural mechanisation.
7.Monocultures.
8.Soil loss.
9.Disenchantment of the population.
10.Contamination of aquifers.
11.Lack of trust in the administration.
12.Unemployment, emigration.
However, we can see that the area has great potential for development and job creation if the administrations protect and unify their efforts, leaving aside localism and partisan and/or personal interests, so that those initiatives enjoy the necessary social support to be able to carry out the RURAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR THE VEGA ALTA DE SEVILLA REGION, which we believe to be the following:
1.Enhance trade.
2.To promote integrated construction in the environment.
3.To promote the hotel and catering trade.
4.To promote the restaurant industry and local gastronomy.
5.To improve transport systems.
To improve the environment.
7.To promote local craftsmanship.
8.To recover and analyse the documentary and architectural heritage.
9.Study and edition of brochures or magazines.
10. Improve the signposting of the area.
In this case, significant steps are being taken in this matter, improving the channels of communication between the different administrations and whose results are already beginning to be glimpsed and which allow us to think with optimism that the future, if we take advantage of it, can be satisfactory and from here we propose to the different administrations a project of
“ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION AND DEVELOPMENT” for the VEGA ALTA DE SEVILLA region.
PROJECT
LEGEND:
1.A1. Action I (Roman Road Pedestrian Walkway)
2.A2. Performance 2 (Railway halt)
3.A3. Action 3 (Mining Museum).
4.A4. Action 4 (Railway halt).
5.A5. Action 5 (Reforestation of Gallery Forest).
6.A6. Action 6 (Cleaning of Silt).
7.A7. Arenillas Road.
8.A8. Warehouse Warehouse (Dry Dock).
9.P1. Berthing Point (Railway Siding).
10.P2. Berthing Point (at Villanueva del Río).
11.P3. Berthing point (in Alcolea del Río).
Project for the economic diversification and sustainable development of the Vega Alta del Guadalquivir region.
Las Minas, Villanueva and Alcolea del Río.
In this section we intend to develop a Collaboration Agreement between the municipalities of the region and the University of Seville.
1.- The drafting of the agreement with the University.
As this Association understands it, the project should have three general lines of action: local development and infrastructures, natural heritage and historical-archaeological heritage (see table).
The first of these would aim to provide the area with a series of immovable structures for tourism services and human capital training. The structures, publicly financed (regional or local), include the rehabilitation of the accesses to the important sites and monuments in the area, the rehabilitation of the RENFE docks for the Reception Centre and the Tourist Information Office and the construction of the berthing points of the galley to be built in the future. With regard to training, the establishment of the School-Workshops is focused on traditional trades (bricklaying, metalwork, carpentry, etc.). It would be interesting to include in some of them courses in Archaeology and Socio-Cultural Animation, as an alternative service and to cover the possible demand for archaeological, museological, conservation and public use of the new spaces for tourism. Likewise, a Volunteer Network can be generated among the people and associations of the area for the protection, dissemination and guardianship of the natural and historical heritage.
The second line of action would be the protection and rehabilitation of the natural heritage. The specific actions planned (periurban park on the La Lantiscosa estate, the creation of a space for fauna and flora at the mouth of the Galapagar and the preparation of the riverbank for navigation and docking of the galley) involve significant investment.) Bearing in mind that the Guadalquivir itself is expected to be cleaned up and hydrophilic flora repopulated to attract fauna and protect the tortoises, it is foreseeable that specialised monitoring will be required, possibly even beyond the strict scope of geography. The actions indicated above require, in turn, programmes for public use and the generation of literature for dissemination.
As far as the historical-archaeological heritage is concerned, the main actions are clearer and concrete actions have begun to be carried out, such as the transfer of the railway tracks and sleepers and the evaluation of the steam engines, as well as the various contacts with the Spanish Railway Foundation and the Railway Museum. The real potential of the area is unknown as no archaeological surveys of the municipalities have ever been carried out, nor have specific historical or archaeological studies of the area been undertaken. Although the most spectacular initiative is the construction of the galley, it is perhaps not the most profitable in the medium term: maintaining the attractiveness, accessibility and visits to the riverbank requires a more modest system of visits and spending. Along with the galley, the installation of a Railway Museum and another mining museum is planned to take advantage of and rehabilitate the remaining structures in Villanueva del Río y Minas; these include both the installations and shafts of the mine and the settlement of La Mina itself, which contains the old buildings linked to the needs of the mine (director’s house, magistrate’s courts, commissary, etc.).
Another rather spectacular initiative is the construction of an amphitheatre near the Alcolea del Río wharf, as a venue for public performances and concerts. The olive oil and honey museums in Lora del Río have an interesting ethnological component which could be an argument for the justification of new routes or places of interest (Setefilla, Casa de la Virgen, etc.). Last but not least, the construction of a regional archaeological museum in Peñaflor would guarantee the commitment of the local authorities to maintain and generate a focus of activities around the historical heritage.
In order to organise and structure the sequencing of the work, I believe that the best way would be to establish Comprehensive Action Plans. These programmes could be incorporated into the Agreement with the University as the work plans that are annexed and would serve as local or regional development initiatives, staggering the actions according to the available budget and in such a way that the actions could be continued even if there were periods of budgetary and/or political transition.
The first Integral Action Plan would be the recovery of the banks of the Guadalquivir and its tributaries. It would be carried out in the area surrounding the river and would include the following actions:
1. Delimitation of the hydraulic area of public domain of the Guadalquivir and Ribera de Huésnar, Galapagar and other streams. Description and inventory of its physical characteristics and measures for the restoration, conditioning and use of the area. At the same time, the specific prospection of the riverbanks for the location, inventory and valorisation of the potteries, information to be combined with that which exists in the bibliography.
2.- Documentation of the port-places for the galley, even a barge with more manoeuvrability and lower cost, which can be kept sailing on shorter and more frequent journeys.
2a.- Excavation and reconstruction of a pottery, for educational and dissemination purposes.
3.- Design of the “towpaths”. The delimitation of a pathway parallel to the banks of the Guadalquivir, with a width of approximately four metres, together with the conditioning of the accesses to the river (at the galley jetties or small mooring points established on purpose) will allow the development of sporting activities (of which there is already the precedent of the Canoeing Days), the creation of areas for sport fishing and others for hiking.
4.- Documentation and construction of the Alcolea theatre, due to the position it will occupy on the river bank, resting on the terrace.
5.- Establishment of a use and management plan that defines the limits of occupation and action in these rescued spaces.
These actions could be extended to the streams in the area that flow into the Guadalquivir, adding the information obtained about the mills to that of the potteries. Likewise, the greenway should be continued with the one leading down from El Pedroso to create a green belt around the area.
Ideally, these actions should be carried out by people from the area, with sufficient experience and the people trained in the Workshop-Schools. A greater social intervention should not be ruled out if an agreement is reached with the associations in the area for their participation in some of the activities and for the work of dissemination and socio-cultural animation of the heritage.
Another Integral Plan to be developed would consist of the recognition and enhancement of inland roads and paths (recovering traces of livestock trails, Roman roads, old paths and mineral and timber routes in the mountains).
LOCAL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES.
Local development
1.- Workshop schools.
2.- Archivist.
3.- Socio-cultural monitors.
4.- Volunteer network.
5.- Rehabilitation of the access to the Munigua/Setefilla/Arva sites.
6.- Mooring points of the galley.
7.- Tourist Reception Centre.
Tourist Information Office.
Natural heritage
1.- Galapagar Park.
2.- Lantiscosa Park.
3.- Riverside of Huésna.
4.- Recovery of the riverbank in the four municipalities.
5.- Greenway along the river ***.
6.- Public use programme for the whole area.
Historical-archaeological heritage * 1.
1.- Ecomuseum Ferro-mining.** 2.
2.- Theatre of Alcolea del Río.
3.- Regional Archaeological Museum of Peñaflor.
4.- Programmes for the dissemination of the archaeological sites.
5.- Ethnographic route: oil and honey (Lora del Río).
6.- Documentation of the galley and the ports.
*The first action to be carried out is the archaeological prospecting of the municipalities.
** Perhaps it would be a good idea to consider an eco-museum that would include the itinerary of the train and the mine, passing through the village of La Mina itself, thus constituting a more attractive thematic network than a mere visit to an enclosed area or a walk through the mine shaft. It could include a walk through shaft 5.
*** This route should join the one that comes down from El Pedroso, and try to join the road to Munigua, if the route is not too long.
It is very important that the initiatives (and therefore the investments) are distributed as evenly as possible between the four municipalities to avoid internal tensions, to distribute the possibilities for development and to avoid overloading the natural areas.
And we must not forget our natural neighbours, Tocina, Pedroso and Cantillana, that from this Association we intend to unite our efforts for a greater participation so that all will benefit in the medium and long term, allowing this development for our “habitat”.
