‘Vivir Cerca’: Tíjola, Armuña, Bacares, Bayarque and Lúcar team up to have services within 30 minutes of home

Five villages in the Alto Almanzora (Upper Almanzora) have decided to stand up to depopulation together. Tíjola, Armuña de Almanzora, Bacares, Bayarque and Lúcar are launching ‘Vivir Cerca: servicios del Alto Almanzora en 30 minutos’ (Living Close: Alto Almanzora services within 30 minutes), a cooperation project between municipalities that aims to bring social, care and leisure services to within half an hour of any resident in the area.

The investment amounts to €357,763.17. Of this, 80% is provided by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and the remaining 20% by Tíjola Town Council, which acts as the main town of the district and will coordinate the technical and human resources for all the initiatives, as reported by La Comarca and Noticias de Almería.

Transport, housing and jobs

The project is organised into four strands of work:

• Services that unite us: a transport route between municipalities for daily journeys and access to essential services, as well as shared sports and cultural activities, with special attention to people with mobility difficulties.
• Villages with a future: a District Housing Office that will locate empty houses, encourage their restoration and put their owners in touch with people who want to settle in the district. It will also give advice on renovation and energy efficiency.
• Collective drive: meetings between associations and training workshops to encourage self-employment and new economic initiatives, with a focus on young people and women.
• Alto Almanzora as a living destination: promotion of the natural, cultural and gastronomic heritage, with routes and trails, sports tourism and local products.

Why does it matter?

Together, the five villages have 5,214 residents, according to the padrón (the municipal register) of the INE, Spain’s National Statistics Institute, as of 1 January 2025: Tíjola has 3,573; Lúcar, 829; Armuña, 371; Bacares, 226; and Bayarque, 215. In 2010 there were 5,686, although the trend has improved in recent years: since 2020 they have gained 140 residents, especially in Armuña and Lúcar.

After all, in small villages, staying often depends on very concrete things: having a way to get to an appointment, finding a house in decent condition or being able to earn a living without packing your bags. The housing office aims to build bridges between the houses that are currently shut up and those looking for somewhere to settle.

The mayor of Tíjola, José Juan Martínez, describes it as “an exciting project that brings together municipalities with the same sensibilities and even with the same challenges”, according to La Comarca. For the mayor, the key lies in “drawing up a clear roadmap to keep offering our residents opportunities”, so that no one has to give up living, studying and working in their village.

For now, it has not been specified when the transport route and the housing office will start operating.