Laredo, (EFE).- After almost a month of “more daily” issues, the mayor of Laredo, Miguel González (PP), advances the axes of his political project, which will pivot between a new General Urban Planning Plan (PGOU) , the revitalization of Puebla Vieja and consolidating a Business Park to retain young people.
All this in “a tsunami of many small things”, with “updated” budgets, in order to achieve a “bigger Laredo and improve the daily life of citizens.”
In an interview with EFE, González has recognized that the first thing is to carry out those “simple” things, such as fixing, beautifying, painting or covering leisure areas, which were “missing”.
His debut as councilor was not particularly “pleasant”, because he remembers that the first day he had to attend to journalists for an event recorded in a parking lot in Laredo, with a serious injury after being beaten with iron bars.
Despite this, and from a more administrative perspective, he explains that he has been interested from the outset in the municipal swimming pool and the problem of a reopening that “has not been completed successfully at the beginning of this summer” as expected, after eight year old closed due to a problem in the cover.
Governance with dialogue
His government, supported by a pact between PP and Ola Cantabria with only five of the 17 councilors of the Consistory, needs dialogue in the next four years to carry out the initiatives, and González predicts a legislature of “a lot of work” among the eight councils with skills for a job in which “we all feel very comfortable,” he stresses.
Regarding whether the situation could become “ungovernable”, since the opposition has more than three times as many councilors as the government, the mayor doubts that this scenario, because he believes that they are “sensible” councillors, who have already held council seats and “will respect the important matters for the good of Laredo.”
“We have to move forward whoever governs, because what unites us is Laredo,” he added.
New PGOU and another face of Puebla Vieja
The government team is going to promote the approval of a new PGOU that solves the provision of affordable housing so that young people stay in the municipality, since since 2005 Laredo has lost more than 2,000 inhabitants.
For González, this PGOU can start from scratch and extend “between two to three legislatures” until its approval or the previous planning that was annulled by the Superior Court of Justice of Cantabria could also be adapted to the new Land Law.
Regarding the revitalization of Puebla Vieja, the councilor clarifies that a new draft of the Special Plan for its development will be tendered after the current contract is terminated, because the company has not met the deadlines and “there is nothing in the file from 2021”.
Miguel González also highlights the need to approve the Laredo Business Park as a singular project of regional interest, whose initial approval is under study and which, in his opinion, can “unblock” the creation of industrial land.
“The three projects are transversal and bureaucratically very long, but it is what we have to bet on,” he considers.
Miguel González believes that “the greatest honor” that a Laredo can have is to be mayor of his town and warns that he is not “only for four years.”
“My dream is to do a project for the future,” says the mayor of Laredo, who wants to convey to the residents the assurance that they will achieve “a better municipality,” although he also asks for “time.”
Miguel Ramos Seat