Toledo (EFE) on the ground floor (except if there is a trade) and first floor.
The mayoress of Toledo, Milagros Tolón, has presented this document that this Thursday will be debated in the Urban Planning Commission before going to public information and being approved under the legal formula of punctual modification (number 32) of the General Urban Planning Plan ( PGOU).
Both the mayoress and the manager of the Consortium of the City of Toledo, Jesús Corroto, and the manager of the Municipal Housing Company (EMV), Luis Enrique Espinoza, have stressed that the Historic District “arrives on time” to put a stop to the increase in tourist apartments, which at this time are 10% of the homes, although some of the eleven census districts into which this neighborhood is divided exceeds 20% and, therefore, will not be able to have more accommodation of this type.
The regulations, which do not have a retroactive effect, will only affect the Historic Center (not the other neighborhoods of the city) and establishes that none of the eleven districts of the Casco can exceed 20% of tourist apartments.
These tourist accommodations can only be located on the first floor and on the ground floor (except if there is a business, in which case they can only be on the first floor).
There will also be aid for local businesses
Support for local businesses is another of the pillars of the regulations, which will be completed with tax formulas that benefit them for the service they provide to residents, explained the mayoress.
In addition, Toulon has listed that the urban modification aims to prevent speculation, promote housing for residential use, protect neighbors, avoid coexistence problems, support local commerce and defend a sustainable tourism model.
He has stressed that the Historic District of Toledo has not only been a World Heritage Site since 1986, but that it is the neighborhood “that confers the main identity” on Toledo.
For this reason, the proliferation of tourist apartments is a threat not only for Toledo but for all heritage cities, although in the case of Toledo it “arrives on time” to stop it.
Allowing there to only be tourist flats on the ground floor or on the first floor prevents there being entire blocks of tourist flats, like some that already exist in Toledo, so that if someone buys a block, they cannot use it exclusively for tourism, but instead The first floor must be reserved for rent or sale to neighbors.
“Absolutely inadmissible” growth of tourist apartments
The manager of the EMV has indicated that the Housing Observatory, active for five years, had reports on the evolution of tourist apartments and had perceived growth “absolutely inadmissible”, to the point of “putting at risk residential use” in the Historic District.
“I think we arrived on time” to preserve residential use, said Espinoza, who referred to the many months of technical work to outline the regulations and study the situation and “errors” in other heritage cities.
Although the urban modification will enter into force in two or three months, once the time for public exposure and allegations has ended, the licenses that are now in process are suspended until the final approval of the regulations and must be adapted to it.
The analysis of tourist apartments began in 2018
For his part, the manager of the Consortium reminded Ignacio Álvarez Ahedo, municipal architect, and Manuel Santolalla, manager of the Consortium until 2020, who died of coronavirus and who had already begun to analyze the problem of tourist homes and apartments in 2018.
Corroto has explained that they want to get one hundred new homes in the Casco by 2030, of which twenty are already in process, and has advanced that there will be support for citizens who want to live in the Casco for long-term rental or purchase.
Likewise, the Consortium is going to analyze each of the eleven districts of the Casco to find out the number of tourist apartments that there are at this moment, with respect to which the mayoress has confirmed that there are already more than 20% and that they will not be able to accommodate more homes.
Also participating in the press conference was the director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Historical Sciences of Toledo, Jesús Carrobles, who said that “the virtue” of the new regulation is that the residents of the Casco win, who will see how the pressure of tourist housing will become more distributed in other areas of the city.
The regulation of tourist flats, in the Revitalization Plan
The regulation of tourist apartments is part of the Toledo Revitalization Plan, whose objective is to guarantee the residential character of the Historic Center and establish and increase its population “because it is the residents who maintain the vital pulse of the neighborhood and its identity character” , has stated the mayor.
This strategy includes various areas, such as housing rehabilitation through the Consortium; urban regeneration and the recovery of public spaces and green areas; support for local trade; digitization through the deployment of fiber optics, which has already reached 90% of Casco homes, and sustainable tourism.
