El 7 Set in english by Brenda Cundell
The Generalitat Valenciana is engaging in a revision of Pativel and Patricova to increase coastal protection from storms
The toughening of determining and expansion of the areas to be protected along the coast could re-open the debate on town planning projects in Alcossebre, Oropesa del Mar and the golf course in Torrenostra.
The response of public administrations to the emergency which arose from the destructive passage of Storm Gloria along the shores of the Comunidad Valenciana was immediate, in regard to the evaluation of the damage and creation of the response mechanisms for finance and the action referred to alleviate the effects of the storm on the beaches.
Institutional support is in line with the agreements from the Consell Meeting of the Generalitat Valenciana, which gave immediate approval to the actions to alleviate the damage caused by the storm from the sea, snow, rain wind and coastal phenomena which happened in January 2020, with the worst impact during the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd, fundamentally affecting the infrastructures along the shores of the Comunitat Valenciana.
Therefore, the Spanish Government was urged to declare the affected municipalities as a seriously affected area because of civil protection emergency and the processing of grants to attend to needs derived from this declaration.
But the calm after the storm threatens to be short, not in meteorological terms but in the reaction of the Government of the Botanica to what happened, which is beginning to feed an administrative fund which could generate new political and economic storms in the coming months.
Both president Ximo Puig and vice-president, Mónica Oltra, agreed on the medium term need to revise Pativel as well as Patricova to incorporate “structural measures which could assist to foresee and fight against the storms, which will always be more frequent”.
The declarations of the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, also mean making out that the management of the Spanish coasts could be rethought to study the actions which really have meaning in material for coastal reparation. The chief of the Executive appealed to institutional cooperation to respond to the storm damage, but slipped in the idea that the coastal management had to be rethought, as investment cannot be made in infrastructures “which in a few months are going to be damaged by these phenomena”.
Although it has emerged that actions have not been taken, the actions will be aimed at toughening the application of both protocols in the coastal area of the Comunitat Valenciana. In view of voices being raised at the time they, principally Pativel, entered into force, the Valencian government considers that the measures were left “short” in the face of the climate emergency situation we are living in.
The application of Pativel in the Alcala de Xivert-Alcossebre municipality gave rise to a serious controversy confronting the Generalitat with the Council and land owners, so that any increase in the coastal protection – we remind you that affects the land situated in the first 500 metres is protected, declaring it not to be developed and up to 1,000 metres with other types of protection – will without doubt set off more protests.
With regard to the Torreblanca coast, the most affected project is the construction of a golf course with a development of 4,000 homes along the coast of Torrenostra, which currently has a moratorium of four years – with the first year already completed, we are going through the second – for the start of the works. A Group of Town Planning Interest headed by Sareb and the Banco Sabadell has shown interest in developing the project, but any change to the terms or the protection conditions for this coastal area put the viability of the project in danger.
The response of public administrations to the emergency which arose from the destructive passage of Storm Gloria along the shores of the Comunidad Valenciana was immediate, in regard to the evaluation of the damage and creation of the response mechanisms for finance and the action referred to alleviate the effects of the storm on the beaches.
Institutional support is in line with the agreements from the Consell Meeting of the Generalitat Valenciana, which gave immediate approval to the actions to alleviate the damage caused by the storm from the sea, snow, rain wind and coastal phenomena which happened in January 2020, with the worst impact during the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd, fundamentally affecting the infrastructures along the shores of the Comunitat Valenciana.
Therefore, the Spanish Government was urged to declare the affected municipalities as a seriously affected area because of civil protection emergency and the processing of grants to attend to needs derived from this declaration.
But the calm after the storm threatens to be short, not in meteorological terms but in the reaction of the Government of the Botanica to what happened, which is beginning to feed an administrative fund which could generate new political and economic storms in the coming months.
Both president Ximo Puig and vice-president, Mónica Oltra, agreed on the medium term need to revise Pativel as well as Patricova to incorporate “structural measures which could assist to foresee and fight against the storms, which will always be more frequent”.
The declarations of the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, also mean making out that the management of the Spanish coasts could be rethought to study the actions which really have meaning in material for coastal reparation. The chief of the Executive appealed to institutional cooperation to respond to the storm damage, but slipped in the idea that the coastal management had to be rethought, as investment cannot be made in infrastructures “which in a few months are going to be damaged by these phenomena”.
Although it has emerged that actions have not been taken, the actions will be aimed at toughening the application of both protocols in the coastal area of the Comunitat Valenciana. In view of voices being raised at the time they, principally Pativel, entered into force, the Valencian government considers that the measures were left “short” in the face of the climate emergency situation we are living in.
The application of Pativel in the Alcala de Xivert-Alcossebre municipality gave rise to a serious controversy confronting the Generalitat with the Council and land owners, so that any increase in the coastal protection – we remind you that affects the land situated in the first 500 metres is protected, declaring it not to be developed and up to 1,000 metres with other types of protection – will without doubt set off more protests.
With regard to the Torreblanca coast, the most affected project is the construction of a golf course with a development of 4,000 homes along the coast of Torrenostra, which currently has a moratorium of four years – with the first year already completed, we are going through the second – for the start of the works. A Group of Town Planning Interest headed by Sareb and the Banco Sabadell has shown interest in developing the project, but any change to the terms or the protection conditions for this coastal area put the viability of the project in danger.
