The City Council of Girona will reduce part of the terraces of the catering establishments on the Rambla de la Llibertat to recover space from the central promenade for pedestrians. The measure will affect different establishments on this axis of the Barri Vell and will be applied within the framework of the terraces ordinance approved in the last quarter of 2023.
Less occupation in the central promenade
The change will mean that some businesses will have a limited reduction of tables and chairs, while in other cases the cut will be greater. The council maintains that it is not about eliminating the terraces, but about reducing a part of their occupation in one of the most transited spaces of the city center.
The Councilor for Proximity Urban Planning, Lluís Martí, defended that the redistribution will be done shortly, although without specifying a date. He also remarked that public thoroughfare authorizations do not have a consolidated character for the owners of the establishments and that their concession depends on the municipal decision.
"It does not mean to eliminate the terraces, but to reduce a part" - Lluís Martí, Councillor of Proximity Urban Planning
The municipal government links it to mobility and to commerce
The deputy mayor and councilor for Economic Promotion, Gemma Geis, argued that the current occupation of the rambla makes it difficult to pass through the central lane. The municipal objective is to return pedestrian surface to the rambla de la Llibertat and facilitate circulation at this point in the historic center.
Geis added that both merchants and owners had conveyed to the City Council the need to correct this occupation. In his opinion, the action also responds to a commercial strategy, since a clearer walkway favors the visibility of the stores and the transit of people.
"If there isn't a good walk, shops are not visible and people don't walk" - Gemma Geis, deputy mayor and councilor for Economic Promotion
Criticism from the PSC over the scope of the decision
From the opposition, the spokesperson for the PSC, Bea Esporrín, assured that the establishments have already been informed that they will be able to have fewer tables and chairs than had been approved. The revision will affect already granted licenses, within the new regulation promoted by the city council.
The action will be carried out shortly, although the City Council has not yet set a specific deadline. The Rambla de la Llibertat thus faces a new redistribution of uses in the heart of Girona, with the balance between economic activity and pedestrian space as the axis of the debate.