are still the suppliers nailed to the sidewalk, cloistered behind a translucent partition, a clear indication that no driver refuel right there. the little ones gas stations from Calvell promenade, in the poblenouand the one at number 189 on Avenida Diagonalbelow glorieswere among the last to have survived at the foot of the curb in Barcelona. However, they already belong to the past, although their vestiges remain intact for now, wrapped in the odd junk scattered inside the canopies. As if the clerks had bolted it just an instant ago.
In fact, they were closed not long ago. Both tiny roadside gas stations -without cover and far from the format of conventional service stations- depended on a municipal concession, which expired on June 1. After the permits were exhausted, the government municipal government of the mayor Jaume Collboni began the procedures at the end of July to order that they be dismantled.
Both businesses located in the district of Sant Marti no longer fit into the urban plan that the Barcelona’s town hall approved in 2020 to regulate the installation of gas stations. The consistory makes it clear that neither of the two will reopen, because they will not be put out to tender again. All that remains is to scrap them to erase their tracks and clear the sidewalk. “The person who held the concession must do it,” the municipal executive added.
out of regulation
The gas stations sported the company’s sign Shellalthough the concession of both was in the hands of the company Disa. It is the fourth largest operator in the sector in Spain, with some 600 stations throughout the country.
The City Council granted 15 days for the successful bidder to claim if she thought it appropriate. Disa replies that she didn’t. He does not answer if he plans to move the businesses to other parts of the city or its surroundings. Barcelona has some 60 operational service stations, according to data of the consistory
For three years now, the regulations in force in the city only authorize new gas stations to be located on the basic road network of the city, such as roundsas well as in the port and industrial estates. In turn, it prohibits them from settling on land classified as public roads. Both premises exclude the two establishments from the assumptions of the regulation.
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The same regulation protects from more service stations to a large part of Old Town and the old quarters of the municipalities that Barcelona absorbed on horseback in the 19th and 20th centuries. The land located within the park is also protected. Montjuic and the Sierra de collserola. In addition, it is prohibited to establish gas stations in parcels classified as facilities and areas with isolated houses.
While waiting for both Sant Martí facilities to be dismantled, the prices that the last customers paid continue to appear on the panels of the suppliers. In Poblenou, a driver paid 9.58 euros for 5.74 liters of gasoline, when the liter was paid at 1.669 euros. It was somewhat cheaper on the Diagonal, at 1.439 euros: the last customer added only 1.28 liters, in exchange for 1.84 euros. On the Diagonal sidewalk, by the way, the post with the pressure gauge for the tires, somewhat distanced from the pumps. The stain no longer works.