The two small villages of Montecorto and Serrato, currently part of the city of Ronda for administrative purposes will soon be incorporated as independent municipalities within Málaga province.

Andalucía’s local autonomy law was recently overhauled removing the minimum requirement of 2500 residents before a community could be incorporated, and will become law during July 2010, meaning that Montecorto and Serrato now have the opportunity to manage their own affairs.

Both villages and their surrounding neighbourhoods have been autonomous within Ronda for several years, 8 in the case of Montecorto, and 11 in the case of Serrato, and each has its own mayor. In 2009 each village was granted the maximum possible rights to determine their own affairs by the city of Ronda, however this falls far short of their stated objectives.

Full incorporation gives a municipality some revenue raising powers, control over education and health services, local police, planning, water and sewage, and of course the environment. Currently these functions are split between local councillors in Montecorto and Serrato, and the relevant councillors in Ronda.

The mayors of Montecorto (Juan Antonio Ganzález) and Serrato (Francisco López Arana) have stated their intention to begin the final negotiations for incorporation as soon as the new law comes into force, which could see both villages incorporated by 2012 or 2013.

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