The consolidation process of the exceptional terraces installed on the streets of Barcelona as a result of the covid pandemic is coming to an end. The City Council has just announced that next April it will have removed the concrete blocks (New Jsersey) and the yellow bollards that were installed to delimit the space of the extraordinary terraces granted to favor the viability of the establishments in the context of the health crisis. .
Also in April the new platforms will have been placed where the tables and chairs of the terraces that have received the municipal authorization to be maintained will be located. Therefore, if the latest forecasts come true, and with a more than notable delay compared to the initial schedule, the total and final disappearance of the BNew Jesey from the streets of the city will soon be a reality.
In mid-2020, the City Council authorized a total of 3,668 exceptional terraces that prevented the loss of 1,875 jobs, according to a study by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). 1,550 terraces were located in spaces such as parking cordons, traffic lanes and chamfers that were delimited with provisional elements to guarantee safety. The rest were located on the sidewalk.
Once the emergency stage of the pandemic was over, the City Council launched a process to regularize the terraces to leave the provisionality behind. The priority has been that those on the road become permanent to give continuity to the economic activity they generate, and that they do so by installing an accessible, approved furniture-platform, where to place the tables and chairs.
In recent months, the Consistory has managed the requests of the restorers and, as reported in a statement, "is very close to completing the process of removing the provisional terraces and installing the platforms."
Of the 1,550 provisional terraces on the road, 1,387 will have been removed in the coming days, that is, nine out of ten, and the forecast is that the rest will have disappeared by April and there will be no provisional elements left on public roads, except in cases punctual that may be pending resources.
As of today, some 2,325 concrete blocks and 5,550 pylons have already been removed, and when all the actions are finished, some 515 loading and unloading spaces will have been recovered, 3,750 motorcycle parking spaces and 510 car parking spaces.
Of the 1,550 terraces, there are 550 that have not asked to be maintained and 426 that have been denied because they did not meet the requirements of the ordinance. All of these have already been removed. The remaining 574 have received municipal authorization to stay and, of these, there are 79 that have either voluntarily given up the definitive terrace or have not requested the mandatory platform and therefore the provisional elements will be dismantled.
By the end of the month, 440 platform furniture will have been installed, which is equivalent to 89% of those that will be installed. The remaining 55 are pending completion of the installation procedures and the availability of the platform by the provider and will finish mounting throughout April.
With the completion of the consolidation process, Barcelona will have a total of 6,375 permits for permanent terraces –29,858 tables and 114,056 chairs.
