Higuera de Vargas authorizes traffic surveillance cameras in four areas

The Higuera de Vargas City Council has authorized, via Mayoral decree, the installation and use of a video camera network for the capture and reproduction of images for the purpose of control, regulation, surveillance, and traffic discipline by the Local Police Force. The resolution, signed by Mayor Ángel Cabalgante Delgado, is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Badajoz number 167, dated September 1, 2026, as Announcement 3445/2026.

The municipality, which has over 1,830 inhabitants and extends over 67.4 km², justifies the measure based on the high number of vehicles circulating through its roads, which makes traditional forms of traffic regulation insufficient. The municipal competence to authorize these devices is supported by Article 7 of Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, which assigns the municipality the regulation, organization, management, surveillance, and discipline of traffic on urban roads under its ownership.

Four surveillance zones

The camera network will be deployed in four zones of the urban center, each with its specific location and motivation:

• Center Zone: Plaza de España (facade of the town hall building) and Plaza del Castillo and Recinto Ferial, due to the concentration of services and the influx of young children.
• Zone 2: Juan Carlos I Avenue, at the intersection of roads EX312, EX311, and BA-078 with Cabecito Street, the intersection with the highest road traffic in the town, with a high volume of heavy vehicles.
• Zone 3: Juan Rodríguez Cea Street, at the entrance of the Public School, due to the high influx of minors during the school term.
• Zone 4: Táliga Avenue, at the access intersection to the fairgrounds, due to its high traffic volume.

Legal framework and data protection

The decree is based on the eighth additional provision of Organic Law 4/1997, which regulates the use of video cameras by security forces and bodies, and the sole additional provision of Royal Decree 596/1999, which grants administrations with competence in traffic regulation the authority to authorize these devices. The capture of images constitutes the processing of personal data, which must comply with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and Organic Law 3/2018 (LOPDGDD), particularly Article 22.

The data controller will be the Higuera de Vargas City Council itself, and the custody of the recordings will correspond to the Local Police Force. The file, named “Video Surveillance,” will be registered in the City Council’s Record of Processing Activities and will collect images of people, vehicles, and license plates of road users.

Guarantees for residents

Recordings shall be kept for a maximum of one month from their capture, unless they must be preserved to provide evidence of acts against the integrity of persons, property, or facilities, in which case they shall be made available to the competent authority within a maximum period of seventy-two hours. Data subjects may exercise their rights of access, rectification, erasure, limitation, portability, and opposition before the City Council, and file complaints with the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD).

The agreement shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the official bulletin, and the Plenary shall be informed of it during the first session it holds. The measure represents a reinforcement of road safety in a rural municipality, but also an exercise in balance between traffic surveillance and the fundamental right to data protection of the residents, who now know precisely where, how, and with what guarantees their images will be captured.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Badajoz, no. 167, September 1, 2026, Local Administration, p. 2-7 (official reference: Announcement 3445/2026).