Not bad to start with. Or to take eight months in office. The office of David Bondia, Síndic of Barcelona since September 2021, he has presented a report this Tuesday that casts doubt on one of the star projects of the Ada Colau government. It calls into question, neither more nor less, the processing of the green axes in Barcelona. After analyzing the project, prays the Barcelona defender Through a statement, the conclusion is that the action of the Department of Urban Planning “has not been adjusted to the right regarding the processing of public information and the principle of good administration“. The Síndic thing is a warning. But the thing could end in a private complaint.
The Chamber of Urban Property of Barcelona In March 2022, he transferred to the Sindicatura his discomfort at the decision of the town hall to tender through the company BIMSA the works of a project, the green axes of the Eixample, which was still in the processing phase. According to this entity, this situation “empty of content the process of public information and violates the right of participation of citizens in public affairs”. That is to say, cut to the chase are the definitive ‘ok’.
In response to this accusation, the consistory argued that it is possible to start the bidding for a contract before final approvalsince BIMSA is “a non-public administration contracting authority (PANAP) that is subject to a differentiated regime“. The response of the Bondia team: “We recognize that the arguments put forward by the council constitute a legal interpretation that may be defensible, but we do not share it. principle of good administration, maintains the Ombudsman, “entails the right to participate in decision-making and, especially, the right to a hearing and the right to present arguments”. “Besides happening a essential mechanism of participation citizen in public affairs, it is a system to detect possible errors in the project that can be expressed by any person”, he wields.
possible allegations
The consistory, on the other hand, considers that initiating the hiring does not harm the right to citizen participation, since the allegations presented in that period “may be resolved in a timely manner in the affirmative or dismissal sense, as appropriate.” In the event that there is a substantial modification, Bondia points out, this “would force us to roll back the hiring procedure“.
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As if the legal scolding were not enough, the Sindicatura ugly that this way of proceeding has occurred, to make matters worse, with a project that, in theory, has been decided together with the neighbors. From autumn 2020 to November 2021, recalls Bondia, several information sessions were held to publicize the Superilla Barcelona plan, with the aim that it be designed “together with the citizenry and the agents and interested parties”. In total, they organized thirty meetings in which some 1,500 people participated. According to the assessment survey carried out by the consistory, points out the ombudsman, the worst valued part by the people surveyed was that related to the demands of the citizens and their low impact on the final decisions adopted by the municipal team of Urban Ecology and Urbanism.
For all these reasons, Bondia considers “indispensable” the defense of the right to a harmonious and sustainable urbanismbut claims that this is “compatible with the right to efficiency of public services, the transparency and the right to information“. On the part of the Síndic, the thing remains in a scolding and a warning, and the recommendation that the real and effective participation of citizens be guaranteed. With this report, the Chamber of Urban Property of Barcelona could raise the matter to judicial instances The fact that the bidding was carried out before the end of the public exhibition period may respond to a calendar issue: everything is planned so that the first four green axes are inaugurated just before the elections.