Ciutadella will appeal the ruling of the TSJIB that orders to put an end to the Born pedestrian zone

PalmaThe Ciutadella City Council will file an appeal against the ruling by the Superior Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands (TSJIB) ordering the reversal of the pedestrian zone planned for Plaça del Born. The City Council has stated that it respects the judicial resolution which partially upholds the precautionary measures requested by 22 merchants and individuals and orders cars to return to the square, but has assured that it will exhaust all legal avenues to maintain the current urban planning pacification model and preserve the pedestrian use of the space.

The government team held a press conference this Thursday after learning of the order in which they stated that Justice had ruled in favor of the City Council and had rejected the precautionary measures demanded by the plaintiffs, which would have meant cars returning to the square and buses to Els Pins. "Now, the TSJIB partially upholds the merchants' appeal and orders that cars return to El Born, although it accepts that buses have left Els Pins," they underlined, as the City Council subsequently reported in a press release.

Along these lines, they indicated that the judicial resolution fully maintains the transfer of the bus stop from Els Pins to Avinguda de Mascaró Pasarius, considering the existence of an administrative file and the authorization of the Consell Insular de Menorca to be proven. "This fact dismantles one of the main arguments used by the appellants," they stated. The City Council highlighted that, regarding the conversion of El Born into a pedestrian zone, the ruling "neither questions municipal competences, nor the city model promoted by the Council, nor the social, urban planning, and mobility benefits of the transformation carried out."

"What the court points out is the lack of a specific executive administrative agreement that formally includes the decision to remove cars from El Born, even though there are indeed different files and decisions approved by the plenary session relating to the consequences of the conversion of the space into a pedestrian zone," they clarified. In this context, they assured that the conversion of Plaça del Born into a pedestrian zone is "a reality widely demanded for years by the citizens," and that it was also a commitment made by the current government team to the citizens of Ciutadella.

In their opinion, the results achieved during this time "demonstrate the success" of the transformation and that the pedestrian square model "has proven to be positive for the city". In this regard, they have highlighted that "traffic problems and gridlocks in the city center have been eliminated, the quality of public space has increased, and dozens of activities have been able to be celebrated with great citizen participation". They have also argued that businesses and terraces have more service capacity, while public transport has continued to operate normally and more comfortably. "We continue to advance in the definitive renovation and embellishment of the Plaça del Born and in the coming days the signing of the collaboration agreement with the Official College of Architects is planned to draft the bases for the ideas competition for the future comprehensive project of the square", they concluded.