Half of the new homes foreseen by Lleida's future Municipal Urban Planning Plan must be protected and, within that block, half will have to be allocated for rent. This is stated in the POUM's report, which will be submitted for initial approval in this Thursday's plenary session after having received the endorsement of last Friday's extraordinary commission with the favorable votes of PSC, PP, and Junts.
The document proposes a maximum growth of 34,185 new homes in the city over the next 25 years. The social report recommends that between 45% and 50% of the planned homes do not enter the free market and that, furthermore, 50% of that reserve be allocated to the rental regime, considering that a good part of the population would not be able to afford the prices of the ordinary market.
Obligatory reserve of protected housing
The report specifies that the current urban planning regulations already establish minimum percentages depending on the type of land. In new developments located on developable land, 50% must be protected housing. On unconsolidated land, that proportion will be 45%.
The POUM sets as objective to guarantee that 15% of Lleida's housing stock is affordable by 2044. That forecast is equivalent to 9,840 homes out of a total estimate of 65,596. Currently, the report calculates that the needs for affordable and social housing reach 7,761 homes, which represents 12.7% of the current stock.
In that section, the plan incorporates actions already underway or planned in different parts of the city. Among them are projects in Els Mangraners, the next construction of 127 homes on Francesc Bordalba i Montardit street and another 181 in different operations distributed across several streets of the Historic Center.
More employment linked to new industrial and technological sectors
The POUM links residential growth to a forecast of 11,257 new jobs in the next two decades. The report attributes that increase to the development of new economic sectors and to the expansion of already consolidated areas.
- Torreblanca with 6.388 jobs
- Expansion of the El Segre industrial estate with 1.967
- Torre Solé with 960
- Arrival of new technology companies with 327
- Other sectors such as Camí de la Moredilla or Creu del Batlle with 1.616
The document also incorporates a proposal driven by the PP for the consolidation of 50.9 hectares exclusively destined for the activity of the park's companies, along with a general improvement of its accesses.
Avenue of the Army, Gardeny and the Castle of the Templars
Among the most concrete urban operations, the plan proposes to give a new facade to the avenue of l'Exèrcit with housing, facilities and green areas, in addition to creating a new access to Turó de Gardeny. For that area, a maximum of 552 homes, of which 214 would be protected, and a reserve of 9,607 square meters of green areas is calculated.
The strategy for Gardeny also involves improving the park's connection with the rest of the city. The POUM prioritizes extending the Eix with Alcalde Costa to Gardeny through a large commercial thoroughfare. At the same time, it proposes enabling a gastronomic point with views of l"Horta and the city in the Castell dels Templers and reusing disused buildings in the complex.
The urbanistic proposal will now reach the plenary session with a double underlying idea. On the one hand, to notably expand Lleida's residential park with a strong reservation for protected and rental housing. On the other, to match that growth to new areas of economic activity and to the reordering of strategic spaces such as Gardeny, l"Exèrcit avenue and the city's large industrial sectors.