The mayor of Montblanc, Oriol Pallissó, assures that his government team will "rethink" the heritage policies of the capital of Conca de Barberà, especially linked to the reconstruction of the wall promoted by his predecessor, Josep Andreu, to often accompanied by controversy. "We will not go crazy buying more assets to rebuild the wall," said Pallissó, in an interview with ACN.
With these words, he confirms that they will not buy the Palau del Castlà, a project announced by the previous mayor. The new mayor assures that he has other priorities such as housing. He wants to "subsidize" the rehabilitation of real estate to live in and does not rule out regulating the apartments for tourist use in the historic center.
As for the wall, the mayor does plan to buy the house attached to the tower of Sant Francesc to overthrow it. In this way, the walled enclosure "will be liberated by approximately 70 percent," he valued. As for the rest of the sections that still remain to be rebuilt, the new town hall will only study it "if the house is badly damaged and a building permit cannot be given" to reform it. "What we are not going to do is buy all the houses attached to the wall," he adds. In this regard, Pallissó laments the "exorbitant prices" that the council has paid to buy buildings and demolish them.
The mayor affirmed that there are "purchase commitments" from the previous government team "that must be studied very carefully" since they access 790,000 euros. One of them is the Palau del Castlà, worth 320,000 euros. The mayor has already announced that it will not be bought.
Pallissó points out that it is also necessary to take into account the costs of rehabilitation and maintenance, as well as the use that is made later.
Another purchase on the table is the forest area of the Valley, a space for recreation and walks for many Montblanquines, at the foot of the Prades Mountains. The mayor does not agree to pay the agreed 150,000 euros for 48 hectares, when the price per rustic hectare is around 1,000 euros, according to Pallissó himself. "It's a beautiful place, but we have to keep our feet on the ground," he said. "If we understand each other, we will buy it. Our predisposition is maximum," he confirmed.
The head of the consistory is more in favor of allocating money to active housing policies. He advises that in Montblanc there are 672 empty homes and that is why he wants to "reward" all the people who want to live or rent their property in the historic center. For example, he proposes measures such as promoting renovations, lowering the IBI or the price of building permits. Regarding the lack of housing, the mayor wants to contact Techo Cívico to promote cooperative housing in the capital of Conca de Barberà.
The Republican is also concerned about tourist apartments. "We do not want the houses that are rehabilitated in the historic center to be for tourist use, this is malpractice," he warns. For this reason, "if these types of houses are fired", Pallissó warns that they will regulate it.
Regarding the hotel beds, the mayor feels bad that visitors who come to Conca de Barberà have to go to Valls to sleep, he recalls. In this sense, he opens up to talk to hotel chains to open a hotel in Montblanc.
During the municipal electoral campaign, the Minister of Health, Manel Balcells, announced a new CAP for Montblanc. The local government wants to place it in the partial plan for the Batedora, which will have to be previously developed, and then cede the land to the Generalitat. The mayor recognizes that the ball is now in the council's court and hopes that this mandate will be a reality.
