Council

The ‘trash’ has become the hot potato of Madrid politics. One that has forced the City Council to rectify

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It’s not the only town hall of Spain that has been shaken by he ‘garbage’but the controversy surrounding the new waste collection rate has had a special impact in Madrid. Because of its reach. And due to the formula chosen by the City Council to calculate receipts, a system that the OCU has come to call “original and unfair”. Now the Government of José Luis Martínez-Almeida has decided to reconsider the calculation of the tax to take into account a fundamental factor: the number of people registered in each residential property. The question is… Will it settle the debate? What has happened? That the Madrid City Council has decided to change your calculation system for the new garbage ratea tax that has been forced to adopt (like the rest of the cities in Spain with more than 5,000 residents) to comply a law of 2022. As a backdrop are the guidelines set by Brussels to improve waste management in the EU. After the neighborhood criticism and organizations like the OCUthe Government headed by José Luis Martínez-Almeida has decided to rectify its initial criterion and give more weight to a key factor in the equation: the number of people residing in each home. In that way, they assure from Cibelesthe average increase in the garbage rate for next year will be minimal: from 141 it will go to €142.6. Why so much trouble with the rate? To understand it you have to go back to at least April. It was then that the deadline for the Law 7/2022 It gave Spanish municipalities with more than 5,000 residents to adjust to its guidelines, which basically oblige the majority of councils to provide themselves with “a specific, differentiated and non-deficit rate” for waste collection, one also based on “payment per generation” (‘Whoever pollutes, pays’) and that “reflects the real cost.” Some town councils, like Barcelona, ​​had been preparing the ground to soften the blow of the rate. In other parts of Spain they are far behind, in case of Malaga or the Balearic Islands. In Madrid the receipts began to arrive in september, not without stirsomething that is explained by three main reasons. The first, the impact that the capital has. The second, because in 2015 the then mayor (Ana Botella) had decided “eliminate” the tax for the sake of “less fiscal pressure for the citizen.” The third (and most important) factor was the calculation system chosen by the Madrid City Council to calculate the new rate, a formula that the OCU came to cross out “original… and unfair.” Why’s that? Due to the elements that the City Council took into account when calibrating the rate it charges each neighbor. Among them (in the case of residential properties) included the cadastral value, the generation rate of each neighborhood and the waste separation coefficient. I didn’t like the formula to the oppositionto part of the neighbors (who went beyond Madrid and charged against the law) and the OCU, which after knowing the calculation criteria launched a very critical statement. What do they criticize?. “The problem is that the criteria chosen in Madrid are not really fair. There are large price differences depending on the neighborhoods and it is the case that neighbors may have to pay for garbage that they are not actually generating,” warned the consumer organization. In his opinion “it is already quite new” that part of the rate is estimated based on the cadastral value of the home, but the rest of the criteria are also far from being perfect. For example, the OCU pointed out that if the tons of garbage collected in each neighborhood are taken into account, without further ado, the calculation ends up being distorted. The reason? “The incorporation of waste whose origin is not strictly residential, such as tourist apartments, shops or businesses whose collection is done jointly with the ordinary collection”, warns. “The result is a strong penalty for residents who live in more central neighborhoods, with greater tourist or commercial activity.” And what has happened? That after weeks of complaints and criticism, the Madrid City Council has ‘rectified’ taking into account part of the proposals brandished by the opposition. On Thursday the City Council revealed that next year “a new ordinance” of the Waste Management Rate (TGR) will be approved “as a result of the need to include new parameters, which will provide greater equity and legal certainty in its calculation.” Which is it? Specifically, one stands out: the number of people registered in each home, “an aspect that has resulted from great technical complexity.” “Thanks to this, rates will be established distributed in ten sections (from one registered person to ten or more) depending on the number of registered people in the property on January 1, 2026,” ditch Martínez-Almeida’s team. That variable is completed with others. “For the calculation of the basic rate, the information on the individual cadastral value of each home or premises has been taken into account, while for the generation rate, the amount of waste generated and the percentage of quality of the separation of each of the 131 neighborhoods have been taken into consideration.” Have you announced anything else? Yes. The City Council has clarified that, according to its calculations, the average collection rate received for 2026 will be 142.6 euros, “practically the same amount” as this year. The advertisement It has also come preceded by other developments in municipal taxation, such as a lowering of the IBI rate that will benefit more than 2.2 million properties. The City Council assures that in total the reduction in taxes and fees planned for next year will allow Madrid residents to pay 33.5 million euros less than in 2025. Matter settled? Not at all. The one known as ‘garbage’ has generated a considerable political stir that extends far beyond the capital and pivots around a key debate: Is the 2022 law that has led cities to review their garbage rates the result of the community guidelines that they aspire … Read more

Crossing the A-5 works on foot has become a risky sport. The Madrid City Council solution: AI

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He burial of the A-5 It has become a headache for the neighbors. It is not only that traffic jams are the daily routine or that the works have forced the route to be diverted, creating a kind of Mario Kart where drivers have to avoid unexpected curves, unexpected exits or the appearance of cranes and heavy machinery. Pedestrians also begin to look with horror as his life becomes complicated every time they have to cross from one side of the highway to the other. The promise Being able to cross the road at the top of it surrounded by a park instead of dark and uninviting passageways is closer. But, for now, crossing from the Batán neighborhood to Lucero or Aluche is nothing short of a pipe dream. One in which the Madrid City Council has decided to intervene with artificial intelligence. With a little AI A couple of weeks ago, the large underground work on the A-5 appeared with a couple of unexpected traffic lights around Villagarcía Street, near the junction with Batán. The intention was to regulate traffic at one of the most complicated intersections in the area. Taking advantage of this unnecessary action, the neighbors began to demand that zebra crossings be set up so they could cross on foot to the other side of the road and have a quick access to the neighborhoods of Lucero and Aluche. In this way, residents would also have access, for example, to public transportation that circulates a little less than a kilometer from their homes, schools or work centers but which are much more difficult to reach on foot since the works began. Now we know that the Madrid City Council is going to take advantage of these works to also test one of the latest purchases announced: traffic lights with artificial intelligence. They explain in The World that current traffic lights already have cameras to control road traffic. This will help, taking advantage of an artificial intelligence system, to regulate traffic on demand. The traffic lights will detect the number of pedestrians waiting for the green light to turn and the system will decide when to let vehicles and pedestrians pass. Thus, it will open the way to the latter for a more or less time depending on demand. The area is conflictive because there are schools that are currently wedged between the Casa de Campo and the underground works of the A-5. With the installation of traffic lights with artificial intelligence, an attempt will be made to prioritize the passage of pedestrians at peak times when entering and leaving educational centers. The use of the system, as we said, is not new. a few weeks ago the Madrid City Council confirmed the installation of these systems in various parts of the capital, especially complicated by the large influx of pedestrians. For example, they already adjust the steps at the intersection of Calle Princesa and Alberto Aguilera, on the Segovia and San Isidro bridges (Madrid Río area) or in the Plaza de Grecia next to the Metropolitan Stadium where traffic lights with artificial intelligence regulate the passage if there are concerts or large events to improve fluidity. Photo | Xataka and Madrid City Council In Xataka | The residents of Madrid had been longing for the A-5 to be buried underground for years. Now he’s making their lives miserable.

Madrid riders have been using municipal bikes for some time despite it being prohibited. The City Council is tired

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When it was released, more than a decadeBicimad was proposed as a public transport service with shared bikes. His idea was very simple: make it easier (and cheaper) for Madrid residents to get around the city by bike. Over time, its network of vehicles and stations has expanded, but it has also attracted a new type of user: riders interested in their benefits and low cost who rent them, skipping the regulation. Now the City Council has said enough. What has happened? That Madrid has grown tired of the riders use during your deliveries Bicimada public bicycle rental service. The message has been conveyed with crystal clear the delegate of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility of the City Council, Borja Carabante, who recalled that the system was designed to be used by individuals (such as neighbors or tourists) not so that economic benefit could be taken from it, a possibility clearly banned in its regulations. Is the problem that serious? Yes. And no. The Municipal Transport Company (EMT) recognize that he is not aware that the riders are making “massive use” of Bicimad, although it has detected “some cases.” Much clearer has been Carabante, who assures that it is a practice that “we all see” on the street and seems to be getting worse. In fact, the City Council speaks of “an increase”. What does the regulations say? The issue is not so much that the practice is more or less widespread as that it completely fails to comply with the bases (and spirit) that regulate the service. In its chapter XI the document that sets the conditions of use slips several ideas, including one that closes the doors to riders and other delivery people. “The bicycle will be used exclusively for the transportation of users, and cannot transport other people, animals or merchandise,” collect the text. “Nor can the bicycle, nor the stations, be used for commercial purposes.” Why do they use them then? For its advantages. Bicimad offers more than 7,700 bikes and 630 stations spread across 21 districts of the capital. Those who use the service can enjoy electric bikes with a 250W central motor and 70 kilometers of autonomy for a fee of only 10 euros monthly. The service offers free, unlimited rides of up to 30 minutes. After that time, the second 30-minute fraction costs 0.5 and the subsequent three euros. In addition, its users are insured. A rider Anyone who wanted to buy a similar urban bike to deliver orders would have to pay hundreds of eurosat least. This without taking into account the wear and tear of the vehicle and another of the great advantages of Bicimad: the station network and charging points. Those responsible they calculate The service currently has 450,000 monthly users who make journeys that, on average, last just over 15 minutes. What does the City Council want to do? For now he has made it clear that he is aware that the riders They are misusing bikes and he is not willing to turn a blind eye. How he will respond and how far he is willing to go in his endeavor is another matter. The City Council has stated that it will look for a way to “disincentivize” delivery drivers from taking advantage of Bicimad and to do so, one of the options on the table is to apply extra rates to them. “We will have to see if there is some type of specific rate for this type of activity and we are analyzing possible alternatives so that it does not occur,” Carabante specifiedwho recognizes that what has sparked the interest of riders and has caused the use of Bicimad to increase among the group (according to the data managed by the City Council) it is precisely the “low rates” that the service applies, which “makes its use attractive” by the delivery people. Are you considering anything else? Yeah. Increase controls at street level. The City Council of the capital has recognized The World He plans to pay more attention to who rents the bikes to get a more precise idea of ​​the problem. “To assess whether any measure must be taken to avoid this type of use, the EMTE will soon begin a surveillance campaign to monitor these activities,” keep it up. “According to these results, actions will be applied to discourage use for commercial activities.” They won’t have it easy. The riders They use the same cards as the rest of the users and to confirm that they are using the service for commercial purposes, the police would have to stop them. Hence, for example, at the moment the improper use of bicycles is not being penalized either. The problem is not entirely new, but the City Council seems determined to put an end to a custom that, as the delegate alertsharms individuals who want to use public bicycles. Images | Bicimad In Xataka | There are no more 20 euro tickets: the trains between Madrid and Barcelona have become very expensive again for a reason

The neighbors have made the City Council demolish it

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In the English town of Dewsbury, near Leeds, a businessman from the rest sector called Amir Azam decided completely transform a plot where there was already a modest house in a neighborhood of low and quiet family homes to build a brick and cement mastodon who put all his neighbors on a war foot until a judge has taken letters in the matter: “permanently withdraw the house, including the base and the foundations.” That is, throw down a millionaire investment. Family house to CasePlón. The millionaire bought the property in 2021 for about 275,000 euros and, after requesting permission to expand the small house he had already built, finally chose to demolish it completely and build a new one instead. The problem is that, instead of a family house of a plant, such as that of the rest of the neighborhood, The millionaire lifted in his place A CASEPLÓN Three floors, with brick walls more than 16 meters long and two additional buildings in the garden. A reform that was out of hand. The result was a residential complex of exorbitant proportions that broke with the visual harmony of the neighborhood. The neighbors denounced for three years the impact on the aesthetics of the neighborhood, claiming that the dimensions of the house and its oppressive design affected the adjoining houses, which they found a brick wall in front of their windows overnight. “We have small discreet bungalows here and suddenly this huge monstrous mansion appears,” They declared Some neighbors to the British Dailymail. Azam requested in 2023 a retrospective planning permit to the City Council, when the work was already finished by the residents on a war. However, the City Council rejected its application and urban planning officials declared that the mansion had an “oppressive, opaque and dominant” impact on the rest of the houses and that it does not “integrate comprehensively” into the dead end in which it was located. Fatal outcome for the millionaire. Finally, and after three years of litigation with local and neighbors, from the urban planning inspection it was decided that the only possible solution was the total demolition of the property. “The new house has a similar surface in terms of wide to the previous housing, but as it now has a two -waters front, its general volume and mass seem much greater. As a result, it seems incongruous next to the other more modest homes in the dead end. As its depth extends much further back, it creates a large side wall extension, which further aggravates its voluminous appearance,” The decision was ratified by the Urban Planning Inspector, which concluded that the construction was incompatible with the character of the environment and caused the quality of life of the residents and gave Amir Azam six months to “permanently withdraw the house, including the base and the foundations.” Demolition and restitution costs could exceed 100,000 euros, expenses that the solo businessman must face. Asked by the British press, Azam said he did not know the resolution and avoided making public statements about the ruling. It is not an isolated case. Such and as he collected the one of Dailymailthis is not the first time that a local millionaire builds a mansion with all the permits in order and then regret it. This happened with a couple of Cambridgeshire, north of London, who claimed that he was going to build a horsepower clinic, but actually raised a mansion valued in more than 1 million pounds. Once built, a judge also ordered to demolish that it was an illegal construction that was not adjusted to what had been planned in their permits. In the United States, Mohamed Hadid, real estate entrepreneur and father of beautiful and Gigi Hadid models, started in Bel Air the work of a colossal mansion of 2,800 square meters that never obtained the necessary permits. After years of litigation, justice He ordered his demolition for breaching a long list of urban and security regulations. The demolition of the structure, half -building, finally began in 2022 after a media and judicial process Very sound. A global phenomenon that also affects Spain. In Spain there have also been similar cases. In the exclusive Cala Llap, in Andratx (Mallorca), 12 luxury homes were built that exceeded 1.3 million euros each. Such and as he collected Eldiario.esthese homes were declared illegal and finally demolished By court order, which caused many of its owners to lose their millionaire investments. In Xataka | The “Off Market” has been the great secret of the millionaires: thus they have bought and sold their mansions without a trace Image | Unspash (Darran Shen)

The City Council wants to change that

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The Aquifer of the Plana de València is a ‘deposit’ of more than 900 square kilometers capable of storing about 2,800 cubic hectometers of water. Not only is it more capacity than any of the community reservoirs; It is that, indeed, it has more water than them. And there is a good reason for this: it is not used. València’s area with its two and a half million inhabitants They are supplied almost entirely of the surface water of the Júcar-Turia system. Therefore, even in the worst moments of climate crisis, the aquifer has remained in good backs to the needs of the city. Now, the City Council wants to change that. For “the treasure of Valencia”. A few days ago, Maria José Catalá, the mayor of the city, presented an ambitious plan to build four new wells with their own water treatment plants. The idea is to increase the ability to extract and power the water from the aquifer. In fact, according to the project, with this infrastructure you could get about 1,100 liters per second. To dimension these figures, it is best to keep in mind that, right now, the city’s extractive capacity would be in about 300 liters per second. And not even enough. After all, always according to EMIVASA (The Valencian water company), the city needs about 1,500 liters per second of continuous drinking water to ensure the supply. That is, to self -ability from the aquifer, València would need to quintuplicate the maximum that today can be extracted from the subsoil. “I hope it never gets used”said Mayor Catalá and, perhaps without knowing it, put his finger on one of the greatest risks of this type of infrastructure. On the one hand, from the political point of view, it seems irresponsible not to exploit the resources we have within our reach (especially in times of pressing water crisis). But it will be used … On the other, from an ecological point of view, the temptation to resort to the aquifer more than those recommended will always be on the table. Pure Say Law: If we have water available, all incentives will conspire to spend it. And no, it is not mere speculation: it is the historical experience. As They point in the Datadista For years: decades of “emergency measures” in front of drought has only ended up serving to “expand irrigation, increasing the problem of overexploitation and contamination of aquifers and wetlands.” We have shown to have a surprising capacity to find excuses about using them whenever water appeared available. Not only that WWF Spain revealed in 2019 that The four most important aquifers in the country have been sheared for years; the thing is, According to the reports of the Geological and Mining Institute“For decades, salinization of Mediterranean and insular Spanish coastal coastal aquifers have been known.” Despite this, “only in a few cases this situation is well managed.” The big question … It is whether it can be managed well (if marine intrusion can be avoided or if there is even a “rational use” of it) and, therefore, the project is now of the Júcar Hydrographic Conference. After all, this will be just one of the much dilemmas that we will have to Image | Ian Preston In Xataka | Spain has a huge problem with contaminated waters. These researchers believe that the solution is the poplars

There is a roundabout collapsing access to Granada. The City Council wants to fix it by putting the traffic lights

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Spain is A country of roundabouts. And although they are born to relieve traffic circulation, it is common manage to generate the opposite effect. This is the case of the roundabout that joins the highway of the GR-30 Circunvalación with Fernando de los Ríos Avenue, in Granada. A quite complex point of union between key points of the city such as the highway itself, the Nevada shopping center, the hospitals area and several of the most inhabited peoples of the city. This point, located in the municipality of Armilla, will be the second in Spain to incorporate traffic lights with artificial intelligence. Its objective is clear: replace the work of the Local Police for hours. The Rotunda del Chaos. Imagine a roundabout that joins the main highway of your city with the most busy shopping center of it, the university access zone, one of the main hospitals (not only of the city of Granada, but of the surrounding villages), and the main towns of the city. Insured chaos. This roundabout, located at the foot of the GR-30 highway, is famous for the amount of traffic jams that are generated at peak hours, from morning to the afternoon. It is usual to find local police officers regulating traffic at critical moments of the day, but now the City of Armilla wants to go one step further. Traffic lights with AI. The mayor of the town of Armilla, Loli Cañavate, explains to Granadahoy That the implementation of traffic lights with artificial intelligence is scheduled to replace the work of these mobility agents during tips. How will it work. The traffic light system will allow them Adapt in real time to vehicle flow. How will they do it? First, several traffic lights will be installed at the different access points to the roundabout. A total of five tickets distributed in the GR-30 descent, the departure of the Albán Park area, the departure of Fernando de los Ríos Avenue in the Granada direction, the departure from the Health Technology Park and the departure of Fernando de los Ríos Avenue Direction Armilla. The traffic camera system will collect updated information about traffic, and this data will be used so that traffic lights can regulate the circulation opening and closing the tickets to the roundabout according to the congestion zones. A little step towards the inevitable. The case of Granada is particular, since this roundabout will end up in a underground process to completely avoid this decongestion. However, the implementation of smart traffic lights begins to gain more and more strength. Neighboring countries, such as Germany, They started with pilot tests More than two years ago. The result? An improvement between 10 and 15% in the fluidity of traffic, with a scheduled improvement margin up to 30%. Without going as far, in cities like Córdoba There are already traffic lights with artificial intelligencealthough in this case with a system aimed at that pedestrians with reduced mobility can cross more easily. Specifically, if the traffic light detects that we have mobility problems, it is open for a longer time. In Xataka | Spanish traffic lights are more dangerous than the rest for a peculiarity. And the DGT knows Image | Eliobed Suárez

Malaga risks being a victim of his own tourist success. So your City Council already warns: it is reaching the limit

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There are times when one figure says more than a thousand words, and in the case of Malaga tourism it seems to be fulfilled: last summer the hotels of the city welcomed some 418,000 travelerswell above 132,700 scored during the same months of 2005. And that is only what the INE records in its Hotel survey. What does that boom suppose for the municipality? Recently (in A report not thought to transcend the media) the City Council valued it with words of an unusual rotundity. He even suggests his concern. Black on white. Thus, frankly and without hairs on the tongue, it is how the City of Malaga has pronounced on the city’s tourist boom in A report Posted a few weeks ago. It is not frequent that this kind of documents, technical, usually arid and that they are part of the ‘internal cuisine’ of the local bureaucracy, become news. If he has done it, it is because of his tone. Malaga, “saturated”. That tourism has reached such a level of massification in Malaga that it begins to generate tensions is no novelty. In summer thousands of neighbors They went out To protest the saturation of the city, a problem that has aroused interest of the foreign press and Boarding the debate political. What is not as usual is that the Consistory exposes a scenario as stark as the Technical Report which he elaborated at the end of 2024. In it the local administration admits That Malaga “is experiencing unprecedented tourist saturation levels”, especially in the historic center, and warns: “This phenomenon causes certain areas to exceed its load capacity, negatively affecting both residents and visitors.” As if that were not enough, the document recalls that the massification of certain specific areas “congestion”, reduces the quality of life of residents and visitors themselves and affects the local economy. The other tourism invoice. “Tourism pressure can cause the expulsion of native business and added value, being replaced by souvenir stores and other shops oriented exclusively to tourists,” Add the text. “The increase in tourists promotes the appearance of illegal or low quality accommodations, affecting both the safety of visitors and the image of the city.” The document is included in The documentation of a public tender with which the City Council seeks precisely to “de -stationalize” the tourism of Malaga. And since it was signed, at the end of November 2024, it has caught the attention of both Andalusian media as of rest of Spain. Such has been its scope that the mayor of the city, Francisco de la Torre (PP), has had to clarify its content. Saturated, but only sometimes. A few days ago the councilor wanted to remove iron from the document from his own City Council clarifying that, In his opiniontourist saturation is just a specific problem, of “certain moments and days.” “Perhaps we must specify at certain times because it is not a permanent issue,” he says about the tower before remembering that the town hall already works to create “new centralities” in Malaga. In fact one of the targets of the tender that has unleashed the controversy seeks precisely that: activate alternative routes tourist that help Distribute the load of visitors, venting the center. Why is it important? For several reasons. The first is that there is an alarming idea that flies The report: The possibility that Malaga dies of tourist success. And Spain has already proven that this is not so difficult. Recently one of the most popular travel guides among the Angloplants He advised Its users visit Mallorca, Barcelona and the Canary Islands in 2025 precisely because of their massification. In the Malaga document, it is warned that saturation harms the locals, but also visitors, and can degrade “the experience” they have in the city. New yes, new no. Another reason is that the municipal report does nothing but confirm a problem, that of the Touristthat in Malaga has already generated several neighborhood protests, more expensive housing and obliged to the mayor a move token While the opposition claims a Hard response. In fact, the report that the Consistory has just published is not the first to warn of the risks of massification. In 2005 the OMAU Observatory already prevented “tensions” that could derive from “numerous tourist visits.” Since then the flow of travelers He has shot. Images | Jorge Fraganillo (Flickr) and Robert Lender (Flickr) In Xataka | Malaga receives British tourists with a manual. The city is filled with advertising remembering that they should go with clothes

The City Council plan after underground A-5

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Madrid and jams They are practically synonyms. Applications like Google Maps either Waze They show us real -time information about traffic, although they have obvious limitations when showing real -time deviations or traffic cameras. The Madrid City Council has launched a web application which allows to consult in real time information about traffic, without the need for installation. It is accessible from the computer, PC, tablet or any device with an installed browser. The application interface is enough (and little modernized, everything is said). Currently, in its previous phase, it is completely focused on the A5. This will allow users of the southern zone to know in real time the situation of this busy area. The visualizer allows to show cartographic information both in 2D and 3D, with the main addition of traffic cameras, something that is not possible to consult in third party applications discharged from apps. Real -time information about the city cameras installed by the DGT. The application is launched to reinforce the information to the citizen after the incidents caused by the works of the Soterramiento of the A5, as well as the construction of the future Paseo Verde del Southwest. “This application also has a series of functionalities to give all the necessary information to the user, including information on real -time traffic and access to DGT traffic cameras in the area affected by the works, the Main recommended alternative itineraries graphically. Being a website, it can be consulted quickly from the mobile by direct access. The interface is specially designed to function in this type of devices, and although it is not especially fast, it is a practical tool. Image | Moockups Studio and Xataka In Xataka | New York lived a hell of stuck cars, collapsed streets and unpunctual buses. They have solved it in two weeks

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