Cifuentes Abolishes Madrid’s 3-Storey Land Act

11 December 2015 – Expansión

On Thursday, the Plenary Assembly of Madrid abolished the section of the Land Act that prohibits the construction of buildings of more than three storeys, thanks to support from members of the PP and Ciudadanos and despite the opposition votes by members of Podemos and the PSOE.

Enrique Veloso, one of Ciudadanos’s members, who defended the draft Law for the modification of the Land Act in the Community of Madrid, said that the now abolished law “has done a lot of damage to town planning”. He criticised the fact that this restriction to construct only three storey properties was applied in a blanket fashion across all towns, without taking into account the characteristics of each municipality.

Ramón Espinar, member of Podemos, said that this partial reform of the Land Act “has circumvented the agreement” that existed between all of the parliamentary groups to draft a new Land Act. He added that the current PP is “the same as ever” and he criticised its rejection of a comprehensive reform of the aforementioned law, which “understood that land was being preyed upon as a resource”.

The socialist member Rafael Montoya declared that his party’s town planning model is “compatible with the interests of residents and is respectful of the environment”, and he confirmed that the abolition of the three-storey restriction “would not help to generate consensus”. He advocated a comprehensive reform of the current Land Act and he criticised Ciudadanos’s collaboration with the PP, stressing that both parties “form part of the same right (wing)”.

The PP member Diego Lozano accused Podemos and PSOE of abandoning the motion for the reformation of the Land Act and said that they do not understand “the urgency” of the need for a comprehensive modification of the law that was approved eight years ago.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake