The councilor for Development and Land Planning, Roberto Media, said this Monday in Parliament that the Real de Piasca development company has already filed with the Government the application for the declaration of a Regional Singular Interest Project (PSIR) for "Bosques de Santander".
Without specifying the day, he explained that the petition was registered last week, at which time the Department sent the documentation to the city councils of Santander, Santa Cruz de Bezana and Camargo, as Media detailed.
The file has also been sent to the general directorates of Public Works, Housing, Environment, Water and Ports, of Development, as well as to the general directorates of Justice, Culture, Mountains and Biodiversity.
Regarding state bodies, he indicated that it has been referred to the Coastal Demarcation in Cantabria, ADIF, the Cantabrian Hydrographic Confederation and the Roads Demarcation.
In total, 44 reports have been requested, of which a response "is expected in the next month and we’ll see what there is," he said.
He stressed that, "logically," the Executive will not move forward with anything that is "illegal," but with "things that are good for Cantabria and are legal, despite the fact that it annoys those who are increasingly getting fewer votes."
Media made this announcement at the end of his appearance in the Chamber, in which he detailed the Government’s (PP) support for the project "Bosques de Santander" and its processing as a PSIR.
The explanation had been requested of the president, María José Sáenz de Buruaga, by the PRC, whose spokesperson, Pedro Hernando, criticized that it was not she who went up to the podium and called her "cowardly".
"There is not a single paper and you have decreed the regional interest of the project," Hernando reproached the regional Executive, pointing out that this project "has been dragging on since the end of 2001".
As he said, it affects "some rustic estates in the Area 7 of Rucandial where only the cows used to graze and which the current developer and some other interested parties bought at a rustic price with financing from Caja Cantabria".
"It was million-dollar financing and very affordable with a president who was called Carlos Sainz, who was the general secretary of the Partido Popular and your fellow seatmate," he added.
Hernando also recalled that in 2003 the Santander City Council tried to approve a modification of the General Plan for Urban Planning (PGOU) for those lands, with Víctor Gil as councilor for Urbanism.
"The same person who is going to have to decide again about it as the General Director of Urbanismo; the same person who at that time incorporated those plots that were rustic, purchased for 36 euros for this project," he stated.
For his part, the Socialist spokesperson, Jorge Gutiérrez, questioned where the report is that accredits that "this action is necessary for Cantabria."
He also demanded to know the cost study that it will imply for public administrations to sustain the infrastructures and services that will require thousands of new residents.
And, in a special way, he raised "where the accreditation and the collective benefits of this operation are that compensate for its territorial, environmental, and social costs."
"It is not enough to announce 320 million euros in infrastructures and facilities. We want to know what that figure includes, who finances it, when it will be carried out, and what guarantees it has," he pointed out.
Likewise, he referred to the City of Justice to request explanations about "what commitments exist, which administration has acquired them, and who will finance its construction."
Meanwhile, the Vox spokesperson, Leticia Díaz, asked herself "since when the Cantabria Council of Government works as a commercial department and press office of a private developer, even before an administrative file exists, as you have recognized here."
She considered that "Bosques de Santander" "is not of regional interest," but rather "of a developer that you are backing," she reproached Media, in reference to Real de Piasca.
In this regard, she said that it is a "depreciated rustic plot" that "multiplies its accounting value by 10 overnight." "You are not promoting a housing plan for young Cantabrians, as you say here with absolute demagoguery," she scolded him.
"Mr. counselor, you are using the exceptional urban planning authority of the autonomous community to carry out a patrimonial rescue and a balance-sheet cleanup for a private developer," concluded the Vox representative.
The PP spokesperson, Juan José Alonso, attributed the criticisms of PRC, PSOE, and Vox of "Bosques de Santander" to "electoralist interests."
He defended the interventions planned within the framework of this development and highlighted "the creation of housing, the construction of 1,300 parking spaces for deterrent parking, the allocation of 650,000 square meters of the Parque Litoral Norte for public use, and the construction of the City of Justice."
In addition, he lashed out at the PSIRs driven by the previous PRC and PSOE executives for not having generated housing, and he said that the PP "works to improve the lives of Cantabrians".
"BURUAGA, STEP DOWN AND SHOW YOUR FACE"
Coinciding with the appearance, some fifty people carried out a new rally outside the headquarters of the Parliament against this PSIR of "Bosques de Santander", as they already did at the previous Plenary Session.
"Buruaga, step down and show your face" and "Roberto Media leaves this farce", the attendees chanted, positioned behind a large banner rejecting the project and holding placards with messages such as "Luis Ángel Agüeros What if it were Lamasón? Our neighborhoods are our homes" or "Buruaga = arrogance, sweetheart deals, conceit, ecpatía and PSIR", amid whistles and cowbells.
In the protest by the residents of Rucandial, where a table was also set up to collect signatures, the IU-Podemos candidate for the Presidency of Cantabria, Israel Ruiz Salmón, and the IU councillor in Santander, Keruin Martínez, took part.
Representatives of the PRC also came by, including its secretary general, Miguel Ángel Revilla; its electoral candidate, Paula Fernández, and Pedro Hernando himself, who spoke with those affected by this PSIR.