The popular government of José Luis Martínez Almeida has passed the first roller thanks to the confidence that the ballot boxes have given it. And this Monday the Popular Group in the Madrid City Council has carried out the modification of the urban regulations in an extraordinary session of the Plenary with the votes against the PSOE and Más Madrid and the abstention of Vox. The changes to the General Urban Planning Plan, which had been blocked by the extreme right in the previous legislature and date from 1997, will come into force once the Community of Madrid approves, which has a period of four months. The new rules seek to regulate businesses that were not even thought of 26 years ago: such as tourist apartments, ghost kitchens, or the construction of homes of less than 40 square meters.
In an express session that has allowed the absolute majority of the PP, before closing for vacations and before the president of the Plenary, Borja Fanjul, wished everyone to “survive the campaign”, the opposition councilors have criticized some measures that they have described as an “outrage”. The deputy spokesman for Más Madrid in the Madrid City Council, Eduardo Fernández Rubiño, has gone further: “The new regulations will only generate the law of the jungle with industrial kitchens, they do not provide a solution to the proliferation of betting establishments in neighborhoods like Usera and they do not respond to the housing problem”. And he added: “You [al PP]who are so concerned about the birth rate, should know that to start a family you must first have a roof”.
The leader of the PSOE in the City Council, Reyes Maroto, wanted to insist on the dark side of the text: “These regulations have a signature, that of the former councilor, Mariano Fuentes, and we have not heard any explanation about that revolving door that we have denounced. A clear incompatibility between that councilor and that company [Vía Ágora]. They have missed a great opportunity to explain. This modification favors promoters and speculators against the general interest of the people of Madrid”. Fuentes, a former Urban Planning delegate in Madrid in Almeida’s previous legislature, became a director of Vía Ágora just a few days after ceding five municipal plots to him.
But this Monday’s vote was a mere formality for the PP, with the 26 votes in favor of its bench it did not need to negotiate, agree, or listen to any allegations. Much less give explanations about the new position of his former Town Planning councilor and, therefore, question the legitimacy of the rules that he himself drafted and have been approved. The socialist councilor Sonia López warned that this dynamic will be the general trend in the next four years.
ghost kitchens
One of the issues addressed by the new text is the controversial industrial or ghost kitchens, whose licensing is paralyzed by the moratorium imposed by the municipal Executive of PP and Citizens and which ends on August 16. The affected residents criticize that these businesses have not been prohibited from setting up in residential areas, as has happened in Barcelona, nor that a limit has been set on hours. The new regulation allows ghost kitchens of up to 350 square meters in residential areas and a maximum number of eight kitchens.
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It stipulates that all premises will have a waiting area for motorcycles and delivery bicycles, as well as a room for delivery people, with a minimum area of five square meters per kitchen, and will have a room for the reception of waste with dimensions appropriate to the conditions established by ordinances on the matter.
Tourist flats, without changes
The new urban regulations are part of the Special Lodging Plan, so that homes for tourist use will not undergo any changes and are therefore subject to it, which requires independent access, an aspect that the Community of Madrid asks to maintain.
The mayor spoke on this point when he left the plenary before a meeting with the press. He has promised to establish a new regulation regarding housing for tourist use that “is clear and provides security” and to increase inspections, going so far as to close those that do not comply with current parameters.
Prohibited houses of less than 40 meters
The text introduces the regulation of two residential models, the cohousing and the coliving and prohibits the construction of homes of less than 40 square meters, while clothes lines, storage rooms and community areas are regulated.
Until now, Madrid only regulated two types of housing, collective and single-family. The emerging residential models are integrated into the new category of shared residence class or coliving, characterized by the provision of common spaces, with the correlative reduction of private housing units. These may not be less than 15 square meters for one person, nor 10 meters per person when it is planned for more than one.
Collective type housing is also regulated cohousing, where the common spaces increase to cover all the living and leisure areas, while the homes will have the rooms that they consider complying with the minimum housing program, except for the dining room, which will be free. The minimum surface of the house will be in this case 30 square meters, compensating the rest up to 40 with the community areas.
The new rules include the regulation of clotheslines, storage rooms and community areas. From this moment on, the physical separation between kitchen and utility room will not be necessary and the ground floor is allowed for storage rooms without calculating buildability.
From premises to housing
Another of the issues that regulate the new urban regulations and that was not expressly contemplated in the current ones is the transformation of premises into housing, guaranteeing that the conditions of habitability, comfort, safety, accessibility and health required of housing are respected. new construction.
One of the changes that have been introduced is that elements that improve the energy efficiency of the building, such as bioclimatic galleries, renewable energy generation, storage and distribution premises, solar chimneys and the increase in the thickness of enclosures to acoustic and thermal insulation. It would also affect additional stairs and refuge areas that must be provided for adaptation to safety regulations in the event of fire.
It will also be possible to oversize common elements such as stairs and corridors to favor accessibility and comfort. Nor will they compute the spaces in a building to house bicycles or electric scooters, nor those for parcel reception, concierge or the like.
Balconies and green factor
The incorporation of balconies and balconies is promoted, increasing its protrusion (up to 0.75 meters compared to 0.45 before) and the possibility of having terraces on the free space of the plot is admitted without calculating buildability when they are uncovered in at least two plants.
Viewpoints are also excluded from the computation, but modifying their conditions to improve their bioclimatic behavior with the incorporation of blinds and other sun protection elements. In addition, they open to cornices at the level of all the floors as sun protection elements.
The urban regulations introduce a new urban parameter, the green factor, which seeks to reduce heat islands and improve air quality. The aim is to increase the total green area in the building through green roofs and façades, and in the free space of the plot through its trees and landscaping. It will be applied to the works of a new plant, replacement, expansion and in those of general restructuring and conditioning.
Plots for different uses
The urban regulations seek to “take advantage” of vacant lots for different uses, a provisional destination while they are not used. In most cases, the uses that are allowed will respond to general interests for citizens, both for recreation and leisure, as well as for endowments. This proposal is aligned with the objectives established in the 1997 Plan, which established this need for temporary use, but did not determine a term. Now he does define it, four years.
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