The Plenary of the Lleida City Council initially approved the new Municipal Urban Planning Plan with 18 favorable votes, in a session that left a broad political debate on the city's growth model. The document was passed with the support of the PSC, Junts, and PP government, while Comú cast the only vote against and Esquerra Republicana and Vox abstained.
The initial approval of the POUM opens the processing of a document that proposes up to 34,000 new homes, with the expectation that a significant portion will be affordable. The plan also incorporates the preservation of l"Horta and green areas, in addition to the expansion of industrial land, one of the points most defended by the groups that have endorsed the text.
A plan for housing, industry, and urban redevelopment
The Councilor for City Management, Begoña Iglesias, defended the document as a city proposal agreed upon and oriented towards the growth of Lleida.
"It is the fruit of consensus and responds to the growth needs that Lleida has" - Begoña Iglesias, councilor for City Management
Iglesias also maintained that the municipal government's forecast is to approve the POUM during this term and warned that, if it ultimately did not move forward, it would not be for technical reasons but for an eventual political blockade. The initially approved document incorporates urban planning proposals put forward by Junts and the PP, including the Station Plan to unblock that action and the reorganization of Turó de Gardeny.
Another of the axes of the debate was industrial land. During the session, it was recalled that currently there are only 11,000 square meters available in the Torre Solé industrial estate. The new POUM aims to resolve this situation and expand the industrial capacity of the municipality.
Support from Junts and the PP
The spokesperson for Junts per Lleida, Violant Cervera, positively assessed the initial approval and maintained that the text responds to the main demands of her group. Among them, she cited the creation of affordable housing, parking lots, industrial land, and the recognition of the uniqueness of l'Horta. She also celebrated that a definitive solution to the Station Plan is incorporated.
In the political debate, Cervera replied to the republican spokesperson, Jordina Freixanet, with a phrase that raised the tension in the plenary hall.
"I am a social democrat, but if you say you are from the left, then I would not be" - Violant Cervera, spokesperson for Junts per Lleida
From the PP, its spokesperson Xavi Palau defended that the moment demands unblocking the urban planning of Lleida.
"It's now or never, Lleida is either stuck or moving forward" - Xavi Palau, spokesperson for the PP
Palau assured that information sessions have been held and that the document addresses housing, industrial land, and a review of urban planning priorities. He also stated that the technical reasons for the POUM make it very difficult to reject it at a political level and that the text rectifies most of the claims that already existed in the proposal presented in 2018.
Critical abstentions and a single vote against
Esquerra Republicana maintained a critical abstention. Its spokesperson, Jordina Freixanet, questioned the document's approach and called for a different strategy to define the city's growth.
"The POUM of square meters, but not that of people" - Jordina Freixanet, spokesperson for ERC
Freixanet denounced that it is a plan agreed upon with the right-wing parties and maintained that an adequate participatory process has not been carried out. She also stated that Lleida cannot grow with the perspective of the last century and called for the creation of a new document that decides how the city truly wants to grow.
Vox justified its abstention with the argument that the POUM is neither of the future nor of the present. The Comú de Lleida, for its part, was the only group that voted against. The formation criticized that the plan proposes growth in the center in all areas, denounced an urban idea that it considers obsolete and typical of the last century, and rejected that the document opts solely for expansion without prioritizing other more sustainable models.
With this initial approval, Lleida launches one of the most relevant urban planning decisions of the term, with a document that seeks to mark the city's development in housing, economic activity, and land management, but which will still have to overcome a political process in which the consensus shown this Monday does not avoid the fundamental disagreements about the city model.