The felling of trees in the Paisaje de la Luz, which the capital's City Council intends to carry out to expand Metro line 11, will finally affect 29 trees around the Atocha station, instead of the initial 59.
This was announced by the Minister of Housing, Transport and Infrastructure, Jorge Rodrigo Domínguez, when asked by the press, at the presentation of the 16 new vehicles of the Autoperiferia company, which took place in Las Rozas.
“On the part of the regional government we have done everything possible and necessary to try to reduce the number of affected trees as much as possible,” highlighted the counselor after the decision made after the meeting he held last week with the residents of the area. .
Likewise, he has assured that everything possible has been done to reduce the number of affected trees, "not only in the area around Atocha station, but also in the entire infrastructure project for the expansion of line 11", for which has reduced the affected tree mass by more than 50%. In the Madrid Río area alone, almost 500 trees were cut down at the end of last year.
On the other hand, he stressed that this will not affect the duration of the work, since a modification will be carried out to create a gallery "which, instead of being built on the sidewalk, will be built on the road."
Upon learning of the start of the felling, the spokespersons for Más Madrid and the PSOE-M in the capital's City Council, Rita Maestre and Reyes Maroto, have called for the cessation of tree felling in the aforementioned environment and have accused the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, and the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, of endangering the UNESCO World Heritage declaration of the Landscape of Light.
In an audio sent to the press, Maestre has indicated that Almeida is a mayor who "despises trees" and "is doing the impossible to lose the UNESCO World Heritage declaration", while ensuring that logging has no “possible justification” beyond the “stubbornness of Almeida and Ayuso” for “not accepting alternatives that have been put on the table.
Maroto, in another audio sent to the press, has described today as “very sad” and has called the logging carried out in the Jimena Quirós Gardens “illegal”, while demanding “responsibility” from the Madrid City Council to “show your face” and “respect this declaration.”
