Shops, services and hotels, regret that the city council has launched its proposal without prior dialogue
They warn that it will restrict economic reactivation at a time when it should be encouraged
Once again, they found out about their future from the press. That is the unanimous complaint of the different Economic sectors more or less affected by the Eixample use plan, which seeks preserve the commercial variety and local services, perhaps with a too global and strict standard, coincide from the different associations consulted. Some insist that it is counterproductive hamper economic recovery after a crisis that has been primed in this central district. Others, that cut the wings to the improvement or expansion of new businesses that have managed to work. In general, they admit a regulation that avoids commercial monoculture, but in a more limited way to areas at risk of gentrification and not generalized as Ada Colau’s party defends.
“We are the neighbors on the ground floor and they should listen to us too”, launches Xavier Llobet, president of Coreixample. There they have been direct witnesses of the evolution of changes such as the one in Carrer de Girona. There is always someone who is more harmed, he warns. “We ask that it only affect pacified axes or the immediate environment,” he summarizes. Regulating to avoid peaks involves collateral risks, she warns, such as fire the price of restaurant licenses where no more can be opened, or that an axis loses strength by not being able to concentrate a type of offer that can become a claim.
More drastic than in Sant Antoni
Aligned also in the bosses Barcelona Trade of neighborhood axes, Jordi Arias, from Sant Antoni Commerce, emphasizes that his neighborhood already has its own use plan, but that the new one is even more restrictive. “We will ask that it not be so, we totally disagree with the number of licenses per square meter.” He speaks carefully because he shies away from political debate and hopes to “improve” the plan with dialogue.
So they promised Commons a few days ago after the rebellion of other groups: a year ahead to –finally– debate and talk about what that plan should or should not include, with the consequent moratorium on licenses in force. But it happens that the monitoring commission will be so plural that Oriol Agulló, manager of the Eix Comercial Sagrada Familia he fears that the presence of commerce, “being the main affected, will be diluted”. “We are not against the model, but the forms. They present it without discussing it, and at the moment there are no licenses for a year, which has paralyzed premises that were promised or extensions.” He believes that the plan “complicates the normal development of economic activity.” Because he also maintains that in some cases specialization is good, points out this expert, whose association is unique because it is integrated into both Barcelona Comerç and Open Barcelonawhere the most central and tourist axes are aligned.
Is there a risk of saturation? They all share the idea that the Eixample is so large and diverse that unifying restrictions is nonsense. Not everything is Enric Granados, in short. Thus, according to the data provided by the council, the district has 14,416 premises, 28% of which are used for restaurants, supermarkets, food stores, convenience stores and musical activities. The restaurants and tasting establishments add 3,279, which represent 20% of the total offer in the Eixample and almost 30% of that branch in the city as a whole.
Among the Comuns there is municipal fear that the four green axes and squares that will begin to be created in June within the framework of the ‘superblocks’ plan (and will reach 21 in 2030) will promote an undesirable ‘parquetheming‘, with an overdose of business more for walkers and visitors than for the neighbor. Faced with the risk that they extend beyond these axes, they defend a radical action of generalized restriction that also “simplifies” control. In contrast, its socialist partners champion act only in the 21 axes and their area of influence.
Concern in restaurants and hotels
From the Gremi d’Hotels, which already has its own limitations with the PEUAT, they view the plan with concern to the extent that the hotel industry prefers environments equipped with maximum services and life. For Manel Casals, its director, the first error has been the lack of prior consultation with those affected. The second, “to choose the worst moment when we have not yet come out of a crisis that has brought many closures.” And finally, consider as a whole a district with such varied realities: from maximum action to almost boredom. For this reason, they support more the socialist thesis, and also announce allegations.
The period of allegations is two months (already in the final stretch) unless there is an extension, as employers such as Barcelona Comerç have claimed. Its director, Núria Paricio, is also preparing a battery of allegations. He already alludes to several frustrated projects and the damage it will do to commerce and hospitality, as well as gyms or workshops, for example, and “out of time.”
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In New Eixample, with commerce of the Nova and Antiga Esquerra of the district they demand, in addition, “clarity”. Sergio Moral, its president, assumes a global regulation of the area, but that does not prevent businesses from growing, and where those affected are counted. Instead, he rejects super apples outright.
The Guild of Restoration is analyzing the initial proposal of the consistory. Its director, Roger Pallarols, regrets the “enormous concern” that the announcement has created in his sector, which is hindered from growing. “Is a strategic mistake“, he says, for what they will allege. Although they hope to negotiate a plan that “balances the needs of the territory”.