PRESS RELEASE
Services Department to Ask Owners To Keep Vacant Plots Clean
Town Hall Sets Example by Clearing Four Plots
Tuesday 30th August 2011.
The Department of Services has undertaken to clear and clean several plots of land owned by the Town Hall with the intention of setting an example to private owners. According to Doris Courcelles, the Councillor for Services, the Town Hall receives continuous complaints from residents who live near abandoned plots that do not comply with the health, safety, and beauty standards established in the municipal byelaws regarding cleanliness. The Council has decided to take action in response to these complaints and ensure the compliance of Article 13 of the aforementioned byelaws that cites that “the owners of all types of properties are obliged to maintain them in a perfect state of cleanliness and adornment, so as to achieve a uniform sense of aesthetics, in accordance with their surroundings and health conditions”. The department has noticed that many owners have been neglecting their plots since the start of the “crisis”, overlooking the harm that this poses to the neighbourhood. As a result, such problems are generating the most amounts of complaints to the Council.
Courcelles stressed that the Council is making great efforts given the economic situation and, for the moment, it has arranged for two plots to be cleared in the Avenida Augusta, another next to the school in the Arenal and a fourth plot in Calle Mauritania, in the area of Les Valls. “We want to be the first ones to comply because from now on many residents and developers will be receiving notifications from the Ayuntamiento, urging them to clean up their plots,” explained the Councillor.
The Services and Environment Department wishes to remind everyone of another paragraph from these byelaws, specifically Article 15, which mentions the obligation to fence off or install some type of enclosure around plots in order to ensure their security and prevent them from becoming areas for the dumping of rubbish, garden waste, rubble and other debris.